


Comfortable

by Mione of Ravenclaw (MykaWells)



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Slow Burn, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 08:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 80,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14040630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MykaWells/pseuds/Mione%20of%20Ravenclaw
Summary: Jane and Maura meet on vacation and have a casual, fun fling. Well, it was fun until Maura took that ME job in Boston...





	1. Jumping Ship

**Author's Note:**

> I originally started posting this on fanfiction.net about 6 years ago on my old profile. Thought I might as well move some of my fics on over here in case there are folks who either don't use ff.net or would rather read fic with Ao3 formatting. I was going to do a really hardcore re-draft, because I'm sure there are ways it could have been improved, but decided to let this story just be itself. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, this is like a T+ but not quite M rating if that's a thing that's important to you.

Jane had been on this week long cruise for exactly three hours and she was just about ready to be done with it. She wondered idly how she could throw herself overboard and make it look like murder. Then the cruise liner would probably pay her parents a shitload of money, set them up for life.

Being a top notch detective and all, Jane could probably pull it off too if she was actually into fraud and suicide. Which she wasn't, not at all. That was what happened when she got bored. Her mind wandered to strange places; it was actually a small wonder that she didn't mull these types of things more often. A person working in homicide as long as Jane had was bound to get a slightly morbid streak.

The detective took another sip of her beer, some foreign stuff that she did not recognize. It tasted like shit. Well, really, it tasted more like watered down shit, but it had been cheap at an otherwise overpriced bar.

Jane had this particular bar all to herself because a lot of the entertainment had just started. Her parents were off at some boring as hell show with some singer or other from years ago that Jane had never heard of. But Angela had been really excited about it, so the elder Rizzolis were off for a few hours.

Jane did not mind so much; actually, she didn't mind at all. She loved both of her parents dearly, but spending an entire week trapped on a boat with them was going to be quite tiring, especially when her mother pointed out every decent looking man so that Jane might 'pick one.'

At that thought, Jane took another swig of beer to polish off the bottle.

As Jane contemplated getting up to go take a nap in her small, bare single person room, another woman sat down at the bar. She actually sat right next to Jane, which seemed a little weird considering the fact that the rather sizeable bar was empty.

"Hello," the woman said. Great, so this was a chatty one. "How are you?"

The woman, who appeared to be about Jane's age, had an unusual air about her. She spoke very clearly, her words crisp and distinct, the way that a very well educated person might speak. But she put on none of the airs that Jane had grown accustomed to seeing in those types. She appeared genuinely interested in what Jane had to say.

Jane wanted to give the woman more than a generic 'I'm good.' She wanted to engage this warm, inviting person in conversation, so she tried a joke.

"Oh, I was just thinking about throwing myself off this ship," Jane said, a smile on her lips and her voice dripping with sarcasm. Or so she had thought. Apparently her new drinking partner thought otherwise because she did not laugh.

The woman looked genuinely upset and very flustered, as if she thought Jane was actually suicidal.

"Oh, please don't," she said. "I'm really not very good at these things. I mean I am a doctor, so I know about mental illness. But I don't exactly deal directly with people a lot, at least not in the traditional manner of speaking. I do know that drowning is a terrible way to die, psychologically speaking. Physiologically, being burnt to death is much more painful, but as far as I am aware that is a fairly rare way to commit suicide."

So, Jane had not opened with the best of lines. She knew that it had probably been in bad taste to joke about jumping overboard, especially with this kind, slightly quirky, really gullible stranger. The woman just made Jane nervous to the point that she said the first stupid thing that came to mind. It was a strange thing, because this doctor woman had such a welcoming way about her.

No, Jane realized what it was. The woman was exceptionally beautiful, with perfectly coiffed blonde-ish brown hair that fell in soft curls around her shoulders and her warm eyes, which she had squinted thoughtfully as she rattled off all that information. Jane collected herself and focused back on the woman's words by the time she finished her monologue.

"I'm sorry," Jane said looking at her beer bottle and picking at the label, feeling more and more like a jackass each and every moment. "I didn't mean I was actually going to, you know, kill myself. It was just a bad joke, I guess. You know, sarcasm."

"Oh," the doctor said.

"Yeah, sorry, I tend to make an ass out of myself on a pretty regular basis," Jane said, then dared to look up at the woman. She did not seem too upset, so Jane continued on. "I guess I just can't help myself. It comes so naturally. One of my gifts, I guess."

That joke got a smile out of the woman, a wide grin that looked like it might break into a laugh. Jane felt a little less anxious, since her new friend had apparently forgiven the misunderstanding.

"Please, don't worry. I don't do well understanding irony, but you would have no way of knowing that," she said.

Jane just smiled at the blonde and they made eye contact while a smile was still on their lips. She lingered just a second longer than she had intended to because her doctor friend had not looked away and even appeared to be admiring Jane.

No, that couldn't be it, because a second later, the doctor spoke as if nothing had happened.

"My name is Maura Isles," the doctor said as she held out her hand. "What's your name?"

Jane stuck out her hand a little too enthusiastically for the situation. Yeah, Jane definitely was way off her game today, or maybe it was just this unusual Maura character, this doctor that she wasn't quite sure what to make of.

"I'm Jane Rizzoli," Jane said, as she shook Maura's hand. They were soft, but cool, as was the case with most doctors Jane knew.

"So, Jane Rizzoli," Maura said as she leaned forward ever so slightly. "Are you here with anyone?"

"Yeah, my parents," Jane said. When she realized that it sounded a little pathetic that she was on a cruise with her parents and drinking alone on said cruise, she added, "it was supposed to be a family trip, but one brother's, um, away, and the other's a rookie cop. Couldn't get the time off."

"That sounds lovely. I mean to say taking a family vacation sounds lovely," the doctor said. She looked down and flattened the hem of her dress. "I'm here on my own. It's a birthday gift from my parents. I'm sure they would have enjoyed the trip, but they're very busy people."

Maura did not immediately look at Jane after she finished speaking. So this woman appeared embarrassed that she was here without her parents and Jane felt embarrassed that she was on the cruise with her parents.

Jane just nodded because she wasn't sure what else to say. She would have commented on her observation, but did not know Maura well enough and feared making an ass of herself twice in the span of five minutes.

"Let me buy you a drink," Maura said suddenly to break the silence that had fallen over the pair. "What do you like?"

Jane could have sworn from the slight curl of the woman's lips that there was a double entendre somewhere in that question. Given Maura's earlier naivety though, her new doctor friend could very well be completely oblivious to the flirty vibe she gave off.

"Beer," Jane finally said when the woman tilted her head to the side as if to coax an answer out of her. "I like beer usually, but this stuff here is kind of crap."

"I never did take a liking to beer," Maura said. "May I make a suggestion for what you might try?"

"Sure," Jane said, leaning back in her chair so that she could hang her elbow over the back. "But there's really no need to pay."

"Don't be foolish," Maura said as she took a card out of her small purse. She looked down the bar to wave over the bartender who had occupied himself cleaning glasses. "It's part of the package my parents got me."

"If you insist," Jane said, shifting again in her seat. "If you're going to pay, you get to pick what I drink."

Maura grinned enthusiastically, pleased by Jane's decision and turned to the bartender to hand him the yellow VIP card.

"We are going to have," Maura paused to think for a second. "Two tropical dreams, please."

The bartender nodded and went to work on the drink. Jane watched closely as the man put the ingredients together. She had never heard of this drink before and wanted to know exactly what it was she was getting herself into.

The bartender swiped Maura's card, gave it back to her and placed the identical drinks in front of his patrons.

Jane took a hesitant sip of the drink.

"Wow, that's actually really good," Jane said, before taking another sip and licking her lips. "It tastes like, I don't know, it tastes like summer."

Maura put her glass down and squinted her eyes in confusion.

"I'm not sure that I understand what you mean," she said.

Jane shrugged and took another sip of her drink to try to think of another way to respond. She was not accustomed to people like Maura. Having gone right from a sort of tough lower-middle class neighborhood to hanging around with world weary cops, Jane had rarely encountered someone so gentle and sincere. Jane really liked the change.

She leaned forward and rested her hands on the bar so that her fingertips nearly touched Maura's.

"It's like, I don't know, all the summery fruits and it's light, not heavy like a winter ale or something," Jane explained.

"Oh, I see," Maura said, looking down at her drink as she ran a finger down the side of the glass. "That makes sense."

Jane nodded and took another sip of the drink. Then Maura spoke again. Really it was more like she blurted it out.

"Thank you," Maura said. "For explaining it so patiently. Most people get frustrated with me because I interpret things literally. I just, I can't help it. That's how my brain functions. I do extremely well with numbers, statistic and memorization, but my ability to deal with the abstract, unknown or non-literal is impeded by—

"Hey, hey," Jane said, putting her hand on Maura's forearm. "It's alright. It didn't bug me. Really, you can ask my mom or my partner, I don't hold back if someone pisses me off."

Maura smiled thinly at Jane then her grin went away.

"So you have a sexual partner?" Maura asked.

Jane was a little bit taken aback to here this well groomed, articulate woman ask the question so bluntly. More interestingly for Jane though, was the hint of disappointment in the doctor's voice.

"What? No, of course not. Ew, that would just be weird," Jane said, images of some kind of illicit affair between herself and Frost springing up in her mind. "I meant my work partner."

Jane liked to keep her job as a homicide detective to herself when meeting new people, because it usually aroused a kind of morbid interest or completely ended the conversation. She did not want to go there just yet with Doctor Maura, so she left her line of work out of it for now.

"Me neither," Maura said perkily. "I mean to say that I don't have a sexual partner at the moment."

"Well, um, that's good, I guess," Jane said. She glanced down and only then realized that she still had her hand resting on Maura's arm. She quickly removed her hand. "Oh, sorry."

"I didn't mind," Maura said, lifting the glass to her lips to take another sip. "I actually quite enjoyed it."

There it was, that coy, half smile, and this time Jane decided it was definitely meant to be flirty.

"You certainly are to the point, doctor," Jane said, putting her hand back on the counter so that it touched Maura's finger tips ever so slightly.

"I find that it is more convenient that way," Maura said. She moved her hand so that her fingers overlapped Jane's as she leaned forward. "More, efficient, if you will."

There was nothing at all sexy about the actual words that Maura spoke. Yet, the way she said them, the way they rolled off her tongue, especially as she lingered on the word 'efficent,'did things to Jane that she had not expected. Even though she had felt attraction to the doctor before this particular moment, Jane felt it so intensely that she could hardly think clearly.

She thought vaguely that a woman apparently inept at detecting sarcasm and interpreting figures of speech had no right to be so damn good at flirting. Jane considered herself a people person, but she highly doubted whether she could create the reactions that this woman created in her.

"Um, yeah," Jane said. She felt herself blush. Damn, Jane Rizzoli never blushed, not out of embarrassment and never out of lust, but there she was blushing like an idiot.

"You appear to be aroused, Jane," Maura said.

That particular observation was not nearly as sexy as one would think. It was delivered as if she were giving a diagnosis, merely stating a fact. When Jane did not immediately respond, Maura pressed on.

"At least your physiological reaction seems to indicate that. Your pupils are showing signs of arousal, as is your slightly increased breathing rate and your apparent inability to carry on a lengthy, coherent conversation. Your skin also appears flushed. Although depending upon your drinking habits, the latter symptoms could very well be caused by alcohol."

"You're a good doctor," Jane said. Before the woman could interrupt with another spurt of information, Jane leaned in and kissed her.

Maybe it was the beer coupled with the strong cocktail, or maybe it was just that they had incredibly chemistry, but Jane felt her head swim as her lips pressed to Maura's and she felt the doctor kiss back. The kiss only lasted a moment, but it definitely ranked way up there in terms of first kisses for Jane.

When she pulled away, Jane's arousal suddenly mixed with fear and shock at what she had just let herself do. She had just kissed a woman that she did not know existed two hours ago. For all she knew, Maura could be some well dressed, sociopathic serial killer who preyed of lonely looking lesbianish women on cruise ships.

Then the cop in her kicked in and she realized she had absolutely no reason to believe that Maura had any ulterior motive. Not even her ever reliable gut instinct detected anything dangerous about Maura. On the contrary, she instinctively trusted the woman in a way that she rarely trusted anyone.

"I, I'm sorry," Jane said, looking anywhere but at Maura. "I, just, that's not something I—

"It's alright," Maura said. She rested a hand on Jane's wrist. Jane nearly drew away at having someone nearly touch her scars, but she remained still and forced herself to look at Maura. "It is perfectly natural to kiss someone that you are sexual attracted to."

"I know, it's just that I don't know you," Jane said. "I don't usually do that with people I don't know."

"What would you like to know?" Maura asked. She smiled, more to herself than for Jane's benefit. "I promise that I won't lie."


	2. Signs of Interest

Maura could not accurately articulate why she would ever offer to tell someone that she had just met whatever they wanted to know about her personal life. She had no logical reason to allow this Jane person, absolutely no reason to give the woman permission to ask whatever she wished.

Yet, the words had fallen out of her mouth without a second thought. Maybe it was that Jane had not laughed at her inability to read common social cues and understand colloquialisms, that she was so nice without being condescending or patronizing.

Or it could be the sexual chemistry Maura sensed. The moment she saw Jane sitting at the bar, Maura knew that she was attracted to the brunette, but she had low expectations for the woman returning those feelings. She tried to conceal any and all visual cues from Jane, and believed she had succeed with maybe one or two exceptions.

When she noticed the signs of interest in the woman, Maura decided to pursue her. They were both single, and there was mutual sexual attraction. That, in Maura's mind, was enough for a sexual relationship.

So, maybe the chemistry was stronger than Maura had anticipated. Jane's entirely unexpected kiss had left Maura a little off balance, unsure of how to keep Jane from retreating when she began to exhibit some signs of anxiety.

That, that was why Maura had offered Jane whatever information she wanted.

The first question was easy enough.

"So, where are you from?" Jane asked. She rested an elbow on the bar and her chin in her hand as she looked ready to listen intently.

"My family is from Boston and I received my bachelors, masters and doctorate at schools in and around Boston," Maura said. She took a sip of her drink and put it back down on the bar. "I've been working out of San Francisco for the past few years though."

"Cali, huh?" Jane said. She nodded her head and scrutinized Maura, as if she were confused by something that Maura had just revealed. "How'd you end up on a cruise ship out of Boston?"

"I was visiting my parents. I do that once in a while. I put aside two weeks and they gave me this cruise trip for the second week as a belated birthday gift. Because, of course, we weren't able to be together for my birthday earlier in the year," Maura explained, hoping her new friend wouldn't find her pathetic or lonely. Because as much as she struggled to read people, she knew the pitying look all too well.

"Cool," Jane said. "Sounds like your parents are pretty generous."

"I suppose," Maura said. "Though sometimes I think perhaps their generosity is borne out of some misguided attempt to buy my affection or make up for the emotional distance created in my childhood."

"Um, oh, that's, um, still generous, I guess," Jane said, looking at Maura then back at her glass then squinting back at Maura as if trying to figure out how to react to Maura's explanation.

Maura had gone and done it yet again. She had spouted off way too much information for what she understood now should have been a superficial conversation about their shared vacation. She'd seen that confusion, that puzzled look way too often to not recognize it immediately.

"Yes, but enough about me," Maura said. She figured if she could get her new friend talking, she would have less a chance of scaring Jane away with her habit of oversharing. "Where are you from, Jane?"

"Born and raised in Boston," Jane said. "Honestly, I can't really see myself living anywhere else."

"I must say that's very admirable, that you would be so devoted to your city," Maura said. She very nearly launched into a monologue on the merits of lifelong city residents showing pride in their community, but caught herself. "I never seemed able to find those kinds of roots anywhere."

"You're not really missing out all that much," Jane said, reaching out to casually pat Maura's hand.

Maura must have been exhibiting some subconscious signs of anxiety or disappointment in her inability to find her roots for Jane to do that. Jane's hand stayed resting there, and Maura instinctively took hold of it. That was when she noticed Jane's unusual looking scar. It appeared to be almost completely healed, but remained visible and it was clear that the wound was very deep.

Maura looked more closely at the scar, then looked up at Jane, who looked distinctly uncomfortable, even as she did not pull her hand away.

"This injury must have been quite painful. I've never seen a wound quite like it," Maura said, as much to herself as to Jane.

"Nope, it was a walk in the park," Jane said, gently pulling it away and smiling at Maura as she opened and closed her hand with ease. "See, I'm good as new."

"That's excellent. After sustaining an injury like that, one generally feels long term effects on dexterity," Maura said. She looked down at her glass to see that in was empty with the exception of a few bits of crushed ice. "You appear to be one of the lucky ones."

"Yeah, I think I am," Jane said.

She put her hands in her lap, and looked down then back up at Maura. Jane was proving to be quite a difficult read for Maura. She did not seem to have an introverted personality type, but she was showing signs of shyness. Maura noticed a blush ting Jane's cheeks. But then she came out with the confident smile generally more characteristic of an extrovert.

Still smiling and looking at Maura, Jane rested her elbow on the bar. Her posture appeared to indicate interest even though nothing was being said. Maura could only conclude that Jane's body language was communicating heightened sexual interest.

Maura licked her lips and ran a finger slowly around the rim of her glass and looked up at Jane. After a moment in which Maura very nearly propositioned Jane right then and there, Jane spoke.

"Hey, what do you say we have another drink? On me this time."

Maura agreed to another drink only because Jane's offer appeared to be her attempt to show that she was still interested in a possible sexual encounter. Had she rejected Jane's proffered drink, Jane might perceive that as a rejection of the potential encounter.

Jane ordered them each another drink, some mixture that Maura could honestly say she had never heard of. Jane insisted on going to the end of the bar to order the drinks where the bartender was seated because she wanted to surprise Maura. She returned with two shot glasses filled to the brim and topped with a bit of whipped cream.

"Here you are, Doctor," Jane said, placing the glass down ceremoniously in front of Maura.

Maura held the glass delicately between her recently manicured fingers and examined it.

"What is it?" Maura asked.

"First of all, you need to put it down," Jane said, taking it from Maura and placing it back on the bar. "It's a combination of Kahlua, Baileys and some schnapps."

"But what is the mixture called?" Maura insisted. Even if she found her new friend exceedingly attractive, she was not going to drink something until she knew exactly what it was that she was drinking.

"You really want to know?" Jane asked.

"I would not have asked if I did not want to know," Maura said. She never did understand why people asked that question after someone clearly indicated interest in knowing the answer.

"I just don't want to offend the doctor's delicate sensibilities," Jane said teasingly.

"My family's wealth and my education has done nothing to make my sensibilities delicate," Maura said. Having detected the teasing tone in Jane's comment, she decided to turn it around on Jane. "On the contrary, I have seen and heard things that you daren't even imagine."

"Really, now?" Jane said, raising her eyebrows as if she didn't believe Maura's claim. "You won't mind if it's called a blow job, then?"

Although taken aback for a moment by the unexpected sexual reference, Maura recovered quite quickly. She was more confused by the fact that one woman would try to seduce another by offering up a drink associated with the male anatomy.

"Not at all. There is nothing to be embarrassed about in referring to a particularly common sexual act," Maura said. "Now tell me how it is that I'm supposed to drink this blow job of yours."

"Watch and learn," Jane said, grinning confidently. Maura did not know Jane well enough to tell if her confidence and enthusiasm came from the two drinks she had consumed or were merely a part of the woman's personality.

Jane stood facing the bar, tossed all her hair over her right shoulder and held her wrist behind her back. She took a breath, bent over the bar, took the shot in her mouth and finished off the whole thing with impressive grace and dexterity.

"Your turn," Jane said, gesturing to the drink in front of Maura.

Maura eyed the shot glass hesitantly. She rarely took shots, though this drink was not made up of the hardest alcohol and used entirely non-alcoholic whipped cream. Then there existed the prospect that she may or may not make a complete and utter fool of herself. Jane gave Maura an encouraging pat on the shoulder. Well, it was vacation after all, as good a time to try new things if there was any.

Maura assumed the same position that Jane had, and all was going well until the point when she actually had to swallow the drink. The impractically and essentially useless whipped cream made swallowing the actual concoction very difficult. Maura succeeded in drinking about half of the shot before the glass slipped from her lips and spilled all over the bar.

Her friend tried and failed to keep herself from laughing. Maura felt herself blush profusely as she bent down to pick up the glass. Maura thought that she really ought to mind the fact that she had just made a fool of herself and this Jane person was finding great amusement in it. Instead, she found herself laughing too. That woman's throaty laugh was likely the most infectious (in a purely metaphorical way), sexy thing she had experienced in a good deal of time. Then again, that wasn't saying a lot, since her life had been particularly lacking anything that fell in the sexy category. Still, Maura had to admit that the laugh was wonderful.

"Well, you tried," the woman said as she patted Maura on the shoulder.

As her laughter subsided, Maura noticed Jane's eye drift down to Maura's lips. Then Jane's hand came up and Maura thought for a split second that she was going to get another kiss. No, Jane just grinned and wiped a bit of whipped cream off of Maura's cheek.

Then Jane licked the whipped cream off of her own finger. Maura was willing to leave open the possibility that the act had been an entirely innocent one meant solely to remove the whipped cream from her finger. Yet, given Jane's previous advances, Maura suspected that the woman had had every intention of being as irresistibly flirtatious as she was being at that exact moment.

Even if Maura's suspicion regarding Jane's intention was incorrect, she had to do something. After all, she could not not kiss a gorgeous woman when it was becoming increasingly clear that they had incredible chemistry.

So Maura placed her hand on Jane's cheek, right about where Jane had just put hers. She moved in, hesitated a second to give Jane an opportunity to object. When Jane did not move away and actually, likely subconsciously, tilted her head slightly forward, Maura continued in and kissed the woman. This kiss was not nearly as abrupt and quick as Jane's first awkward kiss. It started slow and tentative, but soon became more heated. By the time tongue was involve, Maura realized that she likely had the full attention of the bartender and any other patron who happened to walk in.

Maura had to step back just so that she could stop herself from kissing Jane.

"Whoa," Jane said, blinking a few times. "I mean, maybe, no we definitely should not have, can't do that in public. I mean, I'm sorry, I can be a little aggressive about, like, everything."

"Why do you keep apologizing for kissing me?" Maura asked, smiling reassuringly and touching Jane's hand, which now rested on the bar. Jane still did not seem convinced that Maura truly did not mind Jane's aggressiveness, so she continued. "Would you like to come to my room? Perhaps that would make you more comfortable."

The woman's eyes widened a bit and she hesitated. Though Maura had a difficult time reading social cues, she understood the implications of her invitation.

"That would be wonderful," Jane said. "Lead the way, Doctor."


	3. Distractions

Maura rolled over in bed and slowly opened her eyes. As she stretched her arms above her head, she looked at the woman lying next to her in the king sized bed.

Maura found the woman exceptionally beautiful even as she slept. There were, of course, the objective realities: Jane's strong chin and high cheek bones, her excellent skin condition and well proportioned physique. Then there was her voice; god, that sexy  _voice_. To top it all off, Jane carried it all off with an effortlessness that Maura could only ever wish for.

Maura knew that she herself was an objectively attractive woman, having been told that numerous times over the course of her adult life. It had, however, taken a great deal of time and effort to cultivate the skills necessary to engage a potential sexual partner in a way that showed interest without being too forward or abrupt.

She had achieved it, and Maura would say she had become quite good at flirting and seduction. She only needed to create certain physiological responses, often times through small touches, lingering eye contact and a sparing dose of innuendo.

Maura had learned through experience that sparing innuendo, when deployed properly, opened up all kinds of possibilities. As she looked at Jane, Maura couldn't help but remember how very well that innuendo had worked the previous night...

" _So, would you like an, a, um, drink?" Maura asked, uncharacteristically inarticulate as she pushed open the door to her deluxe suit. Jane was standing so close to Maura that Maura could hardly think, let alone speak and unlock a door._

" _Nope," Jane said as she followed Maura into the room and shut the door behind them. Maura turned around to ask what she would like, and Jane took the opportunity to move impossibly close to Maura. She leaned in as if she were going for the kiss, but stopped just short so that Maura could feel Jane's breathe on her lips. "I'd prefer kissing you again if that's ok."_

_How anyone could say no to that kind of request from that kind of voice when said voice belonged to such a gorgeous woman was beyond Maura's comprehension. So she kissed Jane._

_Clearly Jane had been exercising some remarkable restraint at the bar if this was the way that she normally kissed, because those bar kisses were downright chaste compared to the way that Jane pressed her lips to Maura's, slid her tongue into Maura's mouth. All that while Jane pressed Maura against the wall, holding her hands by her head, pressing her body flush against Maura's._

" _We, should, we should, oh, God, that's good," Maura said breathlessly as Jane kissed down Maura's neck, her fingers moving lightly under Maura's shirt, up towards her bra. "Get to the bed."_

" _You think?" the other woman replied. She continued trailing her hand's under Maura's shirt, pulling it up as she went. "What do you say we get rid of this first?"_

_Maura gladly let Jane pull her loose, flowy pink shirt off so that she stood in just her white lace bra, black skirt and heels. Without another word, Jane quickly removed her own shirt. They stood admiring one another for a second, as if they'd forgotten what exactly they were doing._

_This time, it was Maura to take the lead. She kissed Jane, letting her hands grope every bit of Jane's body that she could get to. Aside from being incredibly arousing, Jane's physique was stunning from a purely physiological standpoint. Had she not been so impossibly turned on, Maura might have bothered to ask how she achieved such magnificent results._

_But Maura was incredibly aroused and in desperate need of more-more kisses, more touching, more of that voice, that body...just, more of this woman. All other rational thoughts were absolutely obliterated when Jane moaned into the kiss. Maura pulled away just enough to speak._

" _Bed," Maura said breathlessly. Despite efforts to the contrary, she gave Jane another searing kiss before speaking again. "Now."_

Jane stirred in her sleep turning to face Maura's side of the bed, startling Maura out of her reflection. She looked away and regained her composure just in time for Jane to open her eyes.

"Morning," Jane said. She put a hand over her eyes and lay on her back. "It's too early."

"Oh, really, is it?" Maura said as she struggled to find an appropriate response, her daydream having successfully distracted her. Maura decided that vagaries would probably work best. She glanced at the digital clock which said it was 9:56 a.m. "It's quite late for me."

Jane looked over at Maura, perhaps to detect if she was joking, because the look on her face was somewhere between amusement and puzzlement.

"Even on vacation?" Jane asked.

"Yes," Maura said.

"You're ambitious," Jane said as she turned on her side to face Maura again. "I'm so not a morning person."

"It has nothing to do with ambition," Maura explained. There, there it was, something to latch onto, a topic on which she could focus her mind that wouldn't driver her to distraction. "I have a well-established circadian rhythm that I would rather not disrupt."

"You're full of all kinds of information, huh?" Jane said, sitting up so that the sheet slid off her to expose her breasts and bare stomach.

And just like that the distraction was back. Maura couldn't help but grin to herself as the sight brought back even sexier thoughts of the previous night. She couldn't help thinking about how, when Jane eagerly took off her own shirt, Maura could not keep her hands and lips and tongue off of that entire body. Then there was the moment after Jane shed the last of her clothes where Maura couldn't help telling Jane that she looked positively edible before pinning Jane down and proving how very edible Maura found the other woman.

"You know I don't usually do this," Jane said after a brief, awkward pause, snapping Maura out of yet another sexy daydream. Jane rubbed her eyes and squinted. "I actually never do this."

"You mean have sex with a woman that you just met at a bar on a cruise ship?" Maura responded. "Because it's not something that I make a habit of either."

Jane laughed even though Maura had not intended to make a joke. It had the desired effect of breaking the awkward morning after tension though, so she went with it.

"You're really hot though," Jane said, giving Maura's half covered body and appreciative once over. "Like  _really_  hot."

"Thank you," Maura said. "I find you very attractive as well."

She was exceedingly grateful for the fact that Jane seemed to be taking this whole situation in stride. As much as she had been attracted to Jane, it had not been Maura's intention to bed the woman the very same night that they had met. Yet it had somehow just happened; kissing turned into groping, which turned into stripping, and stripping had led to sex, which had led to intense orgasms for both women before Maura had the opportunity to make a logical, reasonable decision about what to do.

As her mind lingered yet again on the memory of last night, Maura felt what had been a manageable level of arousal at the start of the conversation growing steadily. She decided that Jane would likely not be opposed to another sexual encounter. So Maura took the liberty of moving to straddle Jane so that she could kiss Jane as she pressed her body closer.

"Mmm, Doctor Maura," Jane said suggestively, though with that voice almost everything sounded suggestive. "I like the way you think."

Maura allowed her full body weight to rest on Jane. She felt the familiar, pleasant sensations associated with intensified arousal: the quickened heart rate, the flush skin, the raised body temperature, and a breathlessness that was simultaneously frustrating and exhilarating.

Jane made a few attempts to get Maura on her back, but Maura had Jane firmly pinned in place. Maura found her hands moving of their own accord, seeking out the sensitive spots on Jane's body, discovering what pleased this gorgeous woman. A touch of the breast once in a while always elicited a moan of pleasure, and caressing the woman's thigh usually elicited a sigh of satisfaction, the kind of sigh that got Maura more aroused than almost anything a person could say.

Maura had just decided that she could not last much longer with just the teasing touches and kisses. She moved her hand to Jane's inner thigh before trailing her hand back up.

Then Jane's cell phone rang. Maura continued her ministrations; after all, Jane's decision to answer the phone had nothing to do with Maura. Therefore Maura concluded that she needn't stop what she was doing. Besides, it all felt too fantastic even think of stopping.

Jane glanced at the cell phone and rolled her eyes.

"It's my mother," Jane said, snatching the phone from the bedside table. "I'm sorry, I'll hold her off for a bit. She probably just thinks I'm shark bait or something cuz I'm not in my room."

"Take your time," Maura said.

"Hey, ma," Jane said after flipping her phone open.

During the pause in conversation while Jane's mother spoke, Maura decided to move things forward. After all, she did find the risk of getting caught to be quite arousing in this case. This risk was particularly appealing because it was a calculated one, one where the risk was low and entirely manageable.

She kissed Jane's neck, and the woman, the one who seemed so cool and unflappable, so nonchalant at the bar, shook her head frantically to get Maura to stop. Maura just grinned and ran her fingers up and down Jane's stomach while trailing kisses down Jane's neck.

Jane bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut at Maura's touch, likely to suppress an urge to vocalize in a way that her mother might hear.

"Yeah, mum, I know," she said shortly. "I know, I know. I should have called. I made friends last night and we just, she has a nice room, so we hung out here and I passed out."

There was another lengthy pause during which Jane listened as quietly as possible while Maura pressed on relentlessly. Jane tried one more time to stop Maura by gently pulling Maura's hair so that Maura would look at her. Maura grinned at Jane, and the flicker of a smile passed across Jane's lips. Jane appeared to be wrestling with some impulse, as though she wanted to kiss Maura, but couldn't without her mother hearing. Jane let go of Maura's hair with a small nod and Maura returned to work, this time with Jane's apparent blessing. Jane did take to resting her hand on the small of Maura's back to pull her closer, which only served to intensify Maura's passion, a passion that Jane clearly wanted to respond to vocally. Instead, Jane resorted to a sigh of frustration.

"No, ma, no that was not me trying to give you attitude," Jane said. She paused again, and Maura could not tell if it was to collect herself or to let her mother speak, because it happened to be at the exact moment that Maura gave Jane a few very well placed kisses right by Jane's belly button.

"Yeah, but I'm alive and well, so don't worry," Jane said. "Fine, you know what, I'll meet you, I'll meet you down there in 20. I just need to, I need to wake myself up a little. M'kay, bye, love you too."

Jane tried to replace the phone on the side table, but instead let it drop to the floor, where it landed with a muffled thud on the fluffy, luxurious carpet. Jane took Maura by the face and kissed her hard enough and long enough that Maura momentarily forgot what she had planned for the brunette.

"I'm going to make you repay me for that, Maura Isles," Jane said. Having thrown Maura off guard for just a second, Jane managed to get Maura on her back, pinning the blonde's arms up by her head.

"I'll render compensation willingly and enthusiastically," Maura said, then added in all seriousness. "So long as it doesn't take more than 20 minutes. I would not want to keep your mother waiting."

The woman on top of Maura laughed. She laughed, and that deep, throaty laugh of a woman she knew so little about, sent a shiver through Maura's body in ways that even her most significant partners had not managed.

"I have a feeling I won't be able to hold out quite that long," Jane said.

* * *

Jane tried her best not to smile like an idiot when she met up with her parents for 11:30 brunch. In the past, she had firmly established that she was not so much a morning person, so anything approaching cheery before noon would likely clue her mother in to the fact that she had done more than just crash at a new friend's swankier room.

It was proving tough though, this feigned grogginess. Before last night, Jane had a difficult time remembering the last time she had had sex. Well, the last time she'd had such enjoyable sex. A few months before, she slept with an old high school friend in what could only be described as the most awkward encounter, sexual or otherwise, that Jane had ever experienced.

But, this sex, this sex with a woman she knew little about, had been incredible. There was an added level of excitement at the newness of it, but Jane knew that was only part of the equation. Maura Isles, the socially awkward doctor had turned into Maura Isles the expert lover in the blink of an eye and Jane loved every minute of it. Even if she would likely never see the woman again once they got off the ship, Jane had decided she would enjoy it while it lasted.

"Jane, Janie," Angela said, waving a hand impatiently in front of Jane's face. "What has you in such a good mood today?"

Well, there went her cover. Jane had fooled hardened criminals during undercover operations, but she could never seem to fool her own mother.

"Just had a good night sleep," Jane said as she tried to look busy spreading cream cheese on her bagel. "Those luxury rooms are amazing. You wouldn't believe the kinds of stuff they have there."

"Mhmm," Angela said, looking directly at Jane until Jane could no longer pretend to be intensely interested in her bagel.

"What?" Jane demanded as she licked a bit of cream cheese off of her finger. "What is that look for?"

"You know, Jane, there is no need to be ashamed if you met a man last night," Angela said.

"What? No, ma! I did not meet a single man last night, not one," Jane said leaning her head back and putting a hand over her face.

"Angela, you know, maybe you should leave it be," Frank chimed in. "If she says she made friends, then I think we should believe her."

"Thank you, pa," Jane said. "At least someone believes me."

"I never said that," Frank said, reaching for his glass of water. "I think you probably did meet a man. I just really don't want to hear about it. You're my little girl, you know?"

Jane sighed and rose from her seat.

"Well, if this is going to be today's topic of conversation, I think I'll need some more coffee," Jane said.

She moved through the crowded dining area towards the self-serve coffee table. After filling two cups and adding a healthy dose of sugar to each, Jane turned to make her way back to the family table. She saw Maura walking directly towards her. The woman smiled and waved.

"What are you doing here?" Jane asked. Damn, why'd she always have to sound like such a bitch? It happened more than she cared to admit, especially when she was caught off guard or felt vulnerable.

"All passengers are invited to attend the daily brunch," Maura said. "I'm sorry if I startled you."

"No, it's ok, I just, I thought you might be getting fancy room service or something," Jane said.

Maura took a step closer to Jane and put a hand lightly on Jane's arm. From a distance, it probably looked like a friendly gesture, but Maura made her intentions very clear.

"Would you like to join me after brunch?" Maura asked, then lower her voice. "I have a hottub and minibar that I haven't tried out at all. It would be a shame to waste such a luxury."

"I, I, would like that, really like that a lot," Jane mumbled. She was usually the aggressor, and Maura's very forward invitation had a way of catching Jane completely off guard. "I'm just, I'll be with my parents all day. Shows, and you know other stuff."

Jane trailed off towards the end and might have kissed the woman had she not been within eyeshot of her parents' table.

"That's unfortunate," Maura said, taking her arm off of Jane's shoulder without moving away.

"I could come by later though. My parents go to bed pretty early and I'm a night person anyway," Jane added quickly before Maura backed away too.

"Fantastic!" Maura said, slipping momentarily out of her cool, collected seductress persona. "I'll be waiting anxiously."

Jane smiled at the momentary lapse. As much as this woman wanted this relationship to be strictly sexual, Jane sensed in Maura a desire for real companionship. As strange and potentially complicated as that was, Jane did not particularly mind.

"I'll be at your room as soon as possible," Jane said. "Probably around 8:30?"

"I will hold you to that, Jane Rizzoli," Maura said.

As she walked by Jane, she brushed Jane's shoulder, again just a friendly gesture, or one of two people in a fairly crowded area, but it made Jane want to abandon all plans she had with her parents in favor of an afternoon in Maura's hot tub. This was a family vacation though. Besides, even if Jane had the balls to ditch, her parents would definitely know she was getting laid, and that was not something she particularly wanted to deal with.

With a new hope that the day's activities might pass quickly, Jane continued towards her family table.

 


	4. Something Different

Jane and Maura had developed what Jane would call a pretty awesome plan, what Maura had told Jane was 'efficient time management.' As soon as Jane's parents decided to call it a night, usually some time around 9, Jane would make her way to Maura's room. There'd be minimal talking if any before the kissing started. On the the fourth night, for example, Jane was kissing Maura by time the door clicked shut. It'd been a long, boring day of long, boring shows, during which Jane desperately wished she could go back to Maura's room and be in that heavenly bed having heavenly sex with Maura and her heavenly body. And having those thoughts on repeat for a whole day had naturally generated more than a few steamy daydreams.

As Jane kissed Maura, she realized that something was different about the woman. Usually Maura dressed in clothes that would be easy enough for Jane to get off of her. One time, she'd been wearing a loose, flowy designer sundress over her bikini for their hot tub date, and the previous night, Maura had answered the door in just a black silk negligee. Taking  _that_ one off had been a special treat. On this night though, Maura had dressed in a way that would make undressing a bit more time consuming. She was more dressed up too, wearing a deep purple, fitted dress. The thing was gorgeous on Maura, fit her body perfectly and went well with her skin tone and all; it just didn't give Jane the kind of access she'd grow accustomed to.

"I was thinking," Maura said, pushing Jane's shoulder's so that their bodies were a few inches apart. "That we should do something different tonight."

Jane raised her eyebrows as she pulled Maura's hips up against her body.

"Is this where I find out that you have some kind of super kinky fetish or something?" Jane asked. "Or you want me to dress up so that we can play 'naughty nurse, good doctor'?"

Maura laughed, and though she pushed Jane away, Jane couldn't find it in herself to be too pissed, because she liked making the other woman laugh. Jane liked making anyone laugh, but Maura's laugh was so sincere, never forced or fake or obnoxious. It was just nice to be around someone like that for a change.

"No,and though role playing is a common, healthy sexual activity, I find the naughty nurse trope a little...overdone," Maura said. "I have other, more... _unusual_  fantasies."

Damn, what Jane wouldn't give to know what those fantasies were, because if the look that flitted across Maura's face was any indication, they were super hot.

"Care to share?"

"Not at the moment, no," Maura said simply, as if Jane had just asked if she had cash on her or something equally mundane. She stepped aside and moved so that she was standing in front of the door, forcing Jane to turn and face her. "I think we should go out tonight."

"Out? Like in public?"

"I'm not sure how one would go out in private, so, yes, we would be going into a public setting, likely the late night club they have a few floors down," Maura said. "What do you say?"

Maura rested her hand on the door handle as if she expected Jane to agree readily to go into a public place, a place where they would have to exist in the same space for a few hours without taking each other's clothes off. That was definitely something new, but not the something new Jane had been hoping for.

"I say I'd rather stay here and find out what those unusual fantasies are," Jane said.

"We'll have time for that later," Maura said reasonably. "Besides, as pleasurable as sex with you is, I did come on vacation with the intention of taking advantage of amenities I wouldn't otherwise have access to, to do, for lack of a better word, vacation things."

"Sex  _is_  a vacation thing," Jane said. "People go on vacation just so that they can have sex all the time."

"True, but we've had vacation sex, and we'll have more of it later tonight and tomorrow," Maura said. "I just think we should get out. Enjoy the nightlife."

Maura was making some annoyingly good points in this calm, rational way that would have made even a stupid reasons sound perfectly logical. Still, the fact remained that Jane had managed to work herself into a walking mass of sexual tension, tension she thought she'd get to relieve immediately.

"Please?" Maura said, smiling hopefully at Jane with these puppy dog eyes. It'd been the first time that Jane had seen the expression on Maura's face, and Jane had to say it was damn effective.

"Ok,alright, fine," Jane muttered.

Maura excitedly put her arms around Jane's neck and gave her a quick kiss, not unlike the second one at the bar.

"I promise," Maura said as she opened the door and looked over her shoulder with this sexy come hither look. "I repay these kinds of favors very generously."

"I'm counting on it," Jane said with a grin as she followed Maura out the door.

* * *

Jane had to admit that the place wasn't horrible or anything. The lights were dimmed and some colored spot lights illuminated the dance floor while the DJ pumped some really danceable songs over the speakers. With how loud those beats were and how dim the lights were, the place clearly wasn't built for conversation, but it also offered an ideal setting for sexy dancing and Jane was all about sexy dancing, particularly if she'd get to watch Maura do the sexy dancing.

Maura, however, walked past the dance floor, taking Jane's hand as they approached a tall, lanky man standing by a frosted glass door trying to look like a tough guy body guard.

"Can I help you?" the man asked without uncrossing his arms.

"Isles for two," Maura said.

The man, who seemed to Jane like the perpetually pissed off type, immediately smiled and opened the door for them.

"Right this way, ladies," he said gesturing for Jane and Maura to go ahead of him.

Maura nodded politely and went in ahead of Jane. The club may have been nice, but this room was positively luxurious by comparison. A cushy, blue over-sized sofa to match the rest of the club's decor was pushed against the wall facing where the club would be, and the lights were dimmed, but in a softer, more subtle way; there was an almost imperceptible bluish haze to the room, just enough to make Jane feel like everything was a little bit calmer. The place was without a doubt made for people who had about six figures more than Jane did in the bank.

When Jane thought that things couldn't get possibly any cooler, the guy pulled aside a tapestry on the wall facing the sofa to reveal a floor to ceiling blue tinted window that looked out onto the dance floor. They were set back enough that they didn't attract too much attention, but close enough that they could still take in the atmosphere and enjoy the music, which was a bit muffled by the glass, just enough that they'd be able to carry on conversation.

"You may open and close the shade at any time," the guys said, then as he gestured to the table in front of the sofa. "The bottle service you ordered will be coming in very shortly, Doctor Isles. My name is Gerald if you need anything."

After Gerald left, Maura took a seat on the sofa, crossing her legs at the ankle in this very ladylike way that she had as she looked around the room. Jane was a little less nonchalant about the whole thing; she stood at the window and looked out over the dance floor and realized that the room was made and situated to make the occupants feel as though they were in charge, overlooking the club like some big shot mogul or something.

"This is awesome," Jane said as she turned back to Maura, who grinned broadly at Jane's approval. "Never been somewhere so fancy before."

"I thought you might enjoy a little something different," Maura said, patting the spot next to her for Jane to come sit. Jane strode back across the room to fling the shade shut before joining Maura on the sofa.

"There we go," Jane said, sitting close to Maura as she put her arm on the couch behind the other woman, letting it rest lightly on Maura's shoulder. Maura scooted a little closer and rested a hand on Jane's leg. Jane was actually enjoying herself, especially the part where Maura's hand was rubbing circles on her thigh, moving up a little more each time.

But there was one thought that occurred to her that was taking away some of the enjoyment. It had started as a passing thought, but Jane's curiosity got the better of her.

"Wait, hold on," Jane said. Maura pulled her hand back quickly. "You ordered bottle service?"

"Yes, that is what Gerald just said," Maura said.

"But you only convinced me to come less than an hour ago," Jane said. "You reserved the bottle service before you knew I'd agree to come along."

"I knew you wouldn't say no," Maura's voice softened and she leaned closer to Jane, running her hand though Jane's hair before resting it on her neck. "I have my ways."

Jane might've kissed Maura in that moment; hell, the woman was certainly close enough that it wouldn't take too much effort. And she very likely would've had the bottle service girl not entered carrying a tray with strawberries, two empty champagne flutes and a very, very expensive looking bottle of champagne.

The girl smiled at Jane and Maura as she place the tray down, uncorked the bottle, and carefully poured the glasses in this very particular way, holding each glass at the same exact angle each time.

"I must say, an excellent choice to start the evening, Dr. Isles," the woman said with a noticeable French accent. She set the bottle in the ice bucket Jane just realize was set off to the side of the sofa. "If you would like anything at all, please do not hesitate to use the call button located by the door. My name is Jacqueline."

"Thank you," Maura said, smiling kindly as she opened the small purse slung over her shoulder. She took out a few bills, and folded them in half so that Jane could only see a twenty wrapped around the outside. "For your service this evening."

If the woman's reaction to the tip in her hand was any indication, those other bills definitely weren't one dollar bills.

"Thank you very much," she said,pocketing the money as she smiled yet again at Maura. She took a step back towards the door. "Anything at all, just let me or Gerald know."

Then she was gone, and it was quiet. Or as quiet as a private room in a club could be. Which was a lot quieter than Jane expected. They hadn't really had a ton of time to talk aside from some pillow talk, but that had usually led right back to sex. Now they were here, and, though the silence wasn't awkward yet, it was going to get there in a hurry if they didn't do something.

Jane reached for her glass, but Maura stopped her with a hand on the wrist.

"Try a strawberry with it," Maura said as she took one of the strawberries and placed it the glass still on the tray. "It gives the drink a delightful aroma and flavor. Though Bollinger is quite good on its own."

"What's it called again?" Jane asked. She'd heard perfectly the first time, but loved the way that the French just rolled off of Maura's tongue, so natural and smooth. Jane could listen to that all night.

"Bollinger," Maura said. She took a sip and her eyes fluttered in a way that wasn't all that different from the way she reacted in bed. "And a superb blend, I must say."

Jane took a sip and had to say that it was really, really good, like costs more than Jane's whole cruise fare put together level of good.

"Best champagne ever," Jane said. She looked around the room and leaned back into the cushions of the sofa as she took another sip. "Man you must have dropped a bunch of cash to get all this. Not sure you should be wasting it on me, all this money, I mean."

"It was part of my package," Maura said after taking a very dainty, ladylike sip. She suddenly looked very interested in the tapestry drawn across the window. The woman had a bunch of redeeming qualities, but Jane had to admit that she was a godawful liar.

"Don't lie," Jane said. She wouldn't need her tough cop interrogation techniques for this one, just some intense forced eye contact, which was made a little difficult by Maura's shiftiness.

"I'm not, I can't," Maura stammered. "I'm a horrible liar. That's why I won't go anywhere with you and your family. I can't lie to them if they ask what we've been up to, and I sincerely doubt that you want me to tell your family that we're having copious amounts of casual lesbian vacation sex. So, no, I'm not lying because I can't lie, not about this, and certainly not about our evening activities."

Jane raised her eyebrows at Maura in the same way she would while delivering a patented Rizzoli "Really?" reaction. Maura was going to have to do better than rambling about mortifying sex conversations with the parents in order to distract Jane.

"Fine. Alright, it wasn't technically a lie. I have access to this room as a part of the package. I simply paid an additional fee so that we could have the room and bottle service all to ourselves."

"Don't like sharing, huh?" Jane responded, hoping Maura would get that she was going for flirty teasing.

"I  _am_  an only child," Maura said thoughtfully as she rubbed Jane's leg and took another sip of her drink, all without taking her eyes off of Jane. "Though I had other motivations tonight."

"You didn't have to, you know," Jane said, her eyes landing squarely on Maura's lips, lips that probably tasted really good after the champagne. "It's not too difficult to get me into bed."

Maura laughed her sincere laugh before leaning over to kiss Jane. The woman did in fact taste wonderful, but Jane couldn't do too much about it, since they were both holding glasses of zillion dollar champagne. So it ended up being a quite a bit slower and softer than usual.

"I wanted to do it," Maura said softly, her lips lingering less than a centimeter from Jane's, her eyes remaining closed for a second before she opened them and smiled as softly as she spoke.

And, just like, that the awkwardness was gone. Jane and Maura settled into a pattern of kissing and talking followed by some more kissing and a little groping.

One glass of champagne had turned into a few glasses, which meant that they'd started working on a second bottle of what Maura insisted was much more reasonably priced champagne. Jane had found her pleasantly tipsy place, and so had Maura apparently, because she'd taken to dancing to the music, even opening the shade so that she could 'participate fully in the nightlife' as she had put it.

She danced and Jane watched for a few songs, because Jane Rizzoli totally wasn't a dancer in any way, at least not the kind of dancer Maura was turning out to be. So Jane enjoyed the view for awhile. Until Maura called her over as she did a particularly sexy moved with her hips.

Jane made it across the room in a few steps and Maura took both of Jane's hands, pulling Jane up against her, moving so effortlessly to the beat that Jane just went with it, letting Maura lead, letting her her hands move over Maura's curves, letting Maura do the same to her body. It was downright intoxicating.

Jane kissed Maura, at first just a quick kiss along the jawline. Then one a bit lower, a bit harder, and again. And before she knew it, Maura was pressed with her back against the glass as Jane kissed her. Maura sighed, her eyes fluttering close as this satisfied half smile flitted across her face. Then Maura moved her leg a few inches, pressing it firmly between Jane's legs, though, from the outside, it still looked like there was just some dirty dancing and a little kissing going on.

Still, Jane thought it would be wise to either close the curtain or move back to the room, because, much as she wanted Maura, Jane wasn't really a huge exhibitionist. So Jane opened her eyes and stopped for a second to say just that. But she was stopped by something, or, more specifically, someone she'd never expected to see here.

Her mother. In a late night dance club, the same late night dance club where her daughter was busy making out with and groping another woman in the VIP room.

It appeared as though she hadn't seen anything, since she'd just entered the club, looking very out of place and confused about what she should be doing as she edged her way around the dance floor towards the bar.

"Shit!" Jane said, moving away from Maura as fast as humanly possible. "What the fuck is my mother doing here?"

Maura, whose usually perfect hair was considerably more messed up than it had been at the beginning of the night, looked at Jane for a second before turning around to look out the window.

"Are you sure it's her?" Maura asked as she looked out at the crowd for a woman she'd never seen before. "It is a bit dark."

"Yeah, I'd recognize that woman anywhere," Jane muttered as moved towards the door. She was pissed, irrationally pissed that her mother had managed to find her way into her late night activities. Even when she didn't know she was doing it, that woman found a way into Jane's sex life.

"Where are you going?"

"To give our buddy Gerry a BJ for being such a top notch guy," Jane said.

"Really?" Maura said, sounding surprised, though not at all put out by the thought that Jane was ditching her for the guy at the door.

"No."

"Oh, that was sarcasm?"Maura asked, more curious and inquisitive than upset by the miscommunication.

"Yep. I'm going out there to talk to my mom. You just, you stay here and just, I'll be right back," Jane said.

And she was out the door before Maura could say anything else.

* * *

Maura did as she was told and stayed where she was, looking out the window at the growing crowd of people on the dance floor. She'd normally take such an opportunity to people watch, to glean some valuable insight into human behavior by watching people interact with each other. Places like this, places where people let go of inhibitions, were particularly fruitful for Maura's informal 'research.'

This time, however, she was going to have to devote her time to people watching two particular people. Maura watched as Jane walked towards the bar, all attitude, apparently angry at her mother's guest spot in their evening. She almost lost track Jane, with all the flashing lights and crowds, but managed to keep her eye on the woman as she approached another woman, one who looked quite a bit older than the rest of the patrons at Aqua Lounge.

Jane appeared relatively calm at first, if a quite a bit more tense than Maura had grown accustomed to seeing her. She stood very close to the other woman, the one who appeared to be her mother, probably so that they could hear one another. Then Jane took a step back and threw her hands in the air in a gesture of defeat. Her mother's posture was defensive, and if Maura were the guessing type, she'd have guessed that the woman was responding to Jane's outburst. Jane folded her arms over her chest for a second before pointing and waving in Maura's direction.

Maura waved back, but Jane did not acknowledge it, instead she made some kind of exaggerated gesture that Maura couldn't discern. Jane did it again, slower and bigger, and this time Maura realized Jane was trying to wave her over. Maura wasn't sure what to do with that information, since it went directly against Jane's instructions and her own instinct to stay away from situations where she'd be forced to lie.

But now Jane was gesticulating in a way that was drawing attention to herself. So Maura straightened her dress and fixed her hair to make herself look marginally presentable. Then she headed out to the dance floor.


	5. Girl Talk

Jane hadn't really thought through what she hoped to accomplish by approaching her mother. She just knew that she was feeling pretty buzzed and really turned on, and then Angela showed up to ruin it. Jane realized later that the smarter move would have been to pull the curtain shut and hope Angela wandered back out of the club as suddenly as she'd wandered into it. But it would've bugged Jane the rest of the night and ruined her mood for whatever sexy things Maura had planned back in the room.

So there Jane was, pushing through the crowd towards Angela, who definitely looked like a fish out of water in this place.

"Ma!" Jane shouted as she came up behind the woman. She tapped her mother on the shoulder when she got no response. "Ma!"

"Oh, hi, Janie," Angela shouted. "I didn't know you were coming here tonight."

"Yeah, me neither," Jane said. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep and I wanted to see what this place was all about. Not every day I can get into a fancy joint like this," Angela said. As she finished, she narrowed her eyes at Jane, the kind of look that came right before the kind of questions Jane hated to hear out of her mother. "What are you doing here?"

"Saying the rosary," Jane deadpanned.

"Jane! Don't say things like that!"

"Well, what do you think I'm doing?" Jane snapped, using the loud music as an excuse to raise her voice above what would have normally been appropriate. "I'm having a few drinks. Socializing, enjoying the atmosphere. You know, doing vacation things."

"With who?" Angela asked as she raised her eyebrows. "Is it this mystery friend you've been hanging out with? Jane, if you're seeing a man, I don't know why you won't just tell me."

"Because I am not seeing a man!" Jane snapped as she threw her hands in the air. "And, yes, I am here with my mystery friend."

"Where is she then?"

"We have a room," Jane said turning around to wave to Maura so that her mother could see that her frined was in fact female, and not some secret, future husband Jane was trying to hide. Then she realized that the window she was waving to was almost opaque. The glass must have been similar to the stuff they used in two way mirrors. Maura could probably see her, but Jane and Angela could only see a very shadowy outline of a person standing by the window.

"She's up there, I swear," Jane said. She waved once more before realizing that was no good.

"Jane, if you want me to butt out, you just have to say so. There's no need to make up these stories," Angela said.

Jane rolled her eyes. That was the biggest load of bullshit she'd heard all week; Angela would never, ever, butt out when politely asked.

Now Jane had a choice. Have her mother continually dropping hints about her vacation boyfriend conspiracy theory or expose the most honest to a fault person Jane had ever met to three degrees of Angela Rizzoli.

Well, maybe Maura would be able to tell a few little lies and everything would settle back down.

Jane sighed and gestured for Maura to come out onto the floor. Maura's shadow didn't respond, so Jane 's gestures grew larger and more obvious until she saw Gerald step aside as Maura opened the door and started walking towards Jane. Jane hurried to meet her after making sure her mother would stay put.

"I'm sorry," Jane said as she leaned close to Maura's ear to avoid yelling too loud. "I tried to save you. Just, be yourself. Only don't tell the whole truth, ok?"

Maura nodded and smiled nervously. Jane didn't know a ton about Maura, but she did know that the woman had a very difficult time lying. She hated that she was putting the other woman it such a bizarre, uncomfortable situation, but it was the only option at the moment.

"Here she is, Ma," Jane said, leading Maura by the arm, situating Maura directly in from of Angela.

"Hello," Maura said. "I'm Maura. It's lovely to meet you."

Angela shook Maura's hand and glanced over at Jane.

"Angela, nice to meet you," Angela yelled back over the music. "I wasn't sure you actually existed. Jane, here has a habit of lying to her mother when it comes to her love life."

"Really? That's...interesting," Maura said, her eyes flicking to Jane's as she flashed a quick smile that made Jane feel marginally less homicidal towards her mother.

"So, tell me. What have you and Janie been doing all these nights?" Angela asked. "Because whatever you're doing, sign me up. It's doing wonders for her attitude problem."

Maura looked positively speechless at the question, probably because she'd have to lie, and wasn't sure she could do it convincingly enough. Or the speechlessness could have come from the fact that she'd been accidentally propositioned by the mother of the woman she was having sex with. Whichever it was, Maura's hesitation was threatening to enter awkward moment territory which would be as good as telling Angela what they'd been up to.

"Oh, I see," Angela said, narrowing her eyes at Jane. Jane wondered how it was that she had she taken down some of the meanest, toughest pimps, drug dealer and murderers without flinching, while her own mother and said mother's disapproval had a way of making Jane feel like she was the eight year old who accidentally kicked in the cafeteria window.

"You  _are_  seeing someone, and you asked this poor woman to cover for you," Angela said.

"What?" Jane yelled. Somehow simultaneously super pissed off and ultra relieved.

"You're seeing someone else," Angela repeat slowly, yelling way louder than necessary, given her naturally loud voice. "And you asked this woman-

"I heard you, ma! I just can't believe you won't believe when I tell you I made a friend. I can make friends, you know," Jane snapped.

"We slept together," Maura blurted out. Both Jane and Angela turned to face Maura. Maura looked directly at Jane then Angela and back. Whatever was coming next from the doctor had to be a damn good save, because the vibes Jane was getting from her mother were not pleasant ones, and Jane so didn't need her vacation to turn into  _Days of Our Vacation Sex Lives_.

"Excuse me?" Angela asked as she looked directly at Jane.

"What I mean to say is that we sleep in the same bed. And Jane likes it. Sleeping in the same bed. Cuddling too. Sometimes she cuddles," Maura finished. "Studies do show that having a sleeping companion can lead to better quality sleep. So it helps with the insomnia issue Jane has mentioned."

Although Jane didn't care for the fact that Maura had used that one instance of unconscious cuddling against her, she couldn't help being a little impressed at the way that Maura had managed to answer the question without lying or outing them to Angela, all while moving things away from dangerous territory. It was something to behold.

"Oh, I see," Angela said after a moment's hesitation to absorb all that information. Then she smiled at Maura, and, to Jane's surprise, it was a sincere smile. "It's very nice of you to do that for Jane."

"It's nice to have the companionship," Maura said. "It's been beneficial to me as well."

Jane could tell that wasn't meant to be a double entendre, that Maura really did appreciate having someone to hang with, which was weird, because they mostly just slept and had sex before sleeping and having more sex with a little bit of talking in between. Was this, this arrangement, the closest Maura ever came to companionship? Little moments like that kind of got Jane wondering.

"Well, I'm just happy that Jane seems to be enjoying her vacation so much," Angela said. "I suppose it helps that I hear you have a nice suite up there."

God, Jane really wished her mother would shut up. She definitely did not need Maura thinking that she was being some kind of hypersexual leech just because she couldn't afford the room with the comfy bed.

"A gift from my parents," Maura said as she smiled graciously. "And I suppose I splurged a bit on the private room tonight."

"It's a private room? You mean just the two of you?" Angela asked.

"Well, it's for whomever I put on the list," Maura said. "I only have myself and Jane down right now, though I have complete control of the guest list for the evening."

"Oh, that's wonderful, very glamorous, isn't it Jane?" Angela said.

Jane seriously wondered if her mother could be any more obvious in her attempts to get an invite.

"Would you like to see it?" Maura offered, clearly doing it out of a sense that she really had no other option, because Jane knew that her mother was the expert of creating that feeling in almost anyone she talked to. Even Jane, with all her years of experience, was not immune to it.

"I wouldn't want to intrude on your good times, an old lady like me," Angela said.

Oh, that woman was good, and it pissed Jane off to no end.

"Please, I insist," Maura said as she gestured to the door. "It's really no trouble at all."

Maura walked ahead of them while Jane and Angela walked a few steps behind her.

"I like her," Angela said into Jane's ear.

"Yeah, me too," Jane said.

"Very classy and elegant. And did you see that dress?"

"Yes, ma."

"I wish you would wear a dress like that once in awhile. You have such a nice figure for it."

"God, ma! Can you-

"Here we are," Maura said as they walked by Gerald and through the door with just a nod from Maura. "The Pearl Suite."

* * *

If Maura were to gauge how well her evening with Jane was going, she'd have said it was going fairly well given the variables that had entered into the equation. Really, it had been one variable in particular, the appearance of Jane's mother, that had created most of the tension and stress.

She got the worst out of the way after blurting out the truth about her and Jane's relationship without outing Jane. She just hated arguments, and she wanted a way to get Jane's mother to drop the subject. Maura found her double meaning worked quite well in effectively derailing Angela, and her research had been even more effective in keeping Jane's mother off track.

It was a formula that Maura had refined starting in her high school years to navigate in social situations where she was expected to lie. She would simply make a misleading statement that is technically true, and, if possible, follow that statement up with tangentially relevant research.

Maura didn't enjoy deceiving people, but, on occasions like the one she found herself in with Jane, it was necessary.

Another thing she found necessary: situating Angela between herself and Jane. Jane's body language seemed to indicate that she wanted to sit next to Maura, but Maura knew that wasn't wise if Jane was desperate as she appeared to be to keep her sapphic leanings from her mother.

Maura suspected that they'd end up doing all manner of subconscious touching that would clue the older woman in, especially given their alcohol intake.

So, despite the radical change in plans, they were enjoying their time together, as odd as the combination of guests was. Angela was the type where you didn't have to worry about a lull in the conversation. There was always something to talk about with Angela, and, though they bickered, there was a warmth a warmth in Jane and Angela's relationship that was decidedly lacking in Maura's relationship with her mother. Maura found it interesting, even endearing.

It was a lovely, comfortable evening of moderate drinking for a good hour and a half or two hours. Then Jane started to get antsy and increasingly snippy with her mother. Maura wished she could do something to calm the anxiety that Jane was obviously feel. Yet she theorized that the stress stemmed from the fact that Jane's mother had, for an extended period of time, been preventing relief of Jane's mounting sexual tension. Maura could do very little to fix that with Angela in the room, so she settled into pleasant conversation with Angela while Jane just barely concealed her frustration with the situation.

"So...Laura, is it? Laura, tell me. Have you met any men on the cruise, because we know Jane hasn't," Angela said. She put her glass down after finishing what was probably her fourth drink in fairly quick succession.

Maura didn't bother correcting Angela regarding her name. After all, it didn't make much of a difference since she wasn't going to be spending all that much time with Angela beyond their evening together. Instead she placed her own glass down next to Angela's.

"Well, I'm not actively looking to find a man at the moment," Maura said. Easy enough. Didn't even require her special procedure.

"So neither of you two pretty ladies have gotten any action in the entire week we've been out here?" Angela asked.

It'd been a casual question, the kind of question that was probably Angela's drunken way of having girl talk. It was also the kind of question that Maura dreaded, the rare question that offered little interpretive wiggle room.

"Ma, c'mon. She's not going to want to talk about her sex life with someone she just met a few hours ago," Jane said. Maura hoped for Jane's sake that Angela wouldn't see the blush creeping up Jane's neck as Jane likely realized she'd become a part of Maura's sex life a few hours after their meeting.

"I'm just trying to make conversation, you know, girl talk," Angela said. "Isn't that what girls do? Gossip about their sex lives?"

"Not when two of the three people involved are mother and daughter," Jane said. "Ma, it's just, no."

"Actually, it's been proven that females do bond over discussion of intimate encounter. Even mothers and daughters have been shown to do so, though with far less graphic, sexual content to their conversation," Maura said.

"See, the smart lady said so," Angela said as she emptied the rest of the wine bottle into her glass. "Besides, you're not even involved in the conversation. I mean, it's just me asking if another woman I met at a club if she's getting any. Right?"

"I suppose so," Maura said.

"So have you?"

"Have I what?" Maura asked.

She sincerely disliked the direction of the conversation and wished she'd have just shut up and let Jane do the talking. Nope, instead she'd thrown one too many facts at the problem and it was coming back to haunt her.

"Sex. Have you had it while sailing on this fine ship?" Angela asked, raising her glass as if to toast the greatness of the ship. Or Maura's imagined sexual conquest, though Maura hoped it was the former.

"Yes," Maura said. She gulped down the rest of her champagne and refilled her glass.

"But, I don't understand," Angela said, her squinting her eyes as she appeared to be working through Maura's crytpic, evasive answers. "You said you weren't interested in finding a man?"

"That is correct. At the moment I am not looking to have sex with a man," Maura said. She took another sip and noticed Jane down half her glass, avioding eye contact with both Angela and Maura. It was like she knew what was about to happen and could hardly stand to be in the same room.

"So you've had sex with a woman," Angela said after a few painstaking moments of what appeared to be deep thought.

"Yes," Maura repiled.

Another long, thoughtful pause.

"How was it?" Angela asked.

Jane, who had chosen that moment to take another sip, coughed loudly, nearly choking on her drink.

"Ma! My god, are you serious right now?"

"What? I'm just curious. And we're all a little drunk, so it's all in good fun, right, girlfriend?" Angela said as she put an arm around Maura.

Maura thought that, while ' a little drunk' might have been an accurate way to describe herself and Jane, it was quite an understatement for Angela. Based on Angela's mannerisms and speech, it was becoming increasingly clear that the woman wasn't use to drinking substantial amounts of alcohol so quickly.

"Well, I, um, I suppose," Maura said. She shifted uncomfortably and wished it were physically possible to alter the space-time continuum so that she could go back in time and reroute this conversation. But it wasn't, so she was sitting on a sofa in a night club with her casual sex partner and that partner's mother being asked how the sex was. Even for Maura, who was rather open about sex, it felt strange and uncomfortable. For Jane, it appeared unbearable; she'd given up looking angry and instead rested her head in her hands and muttered something that sounded like 'oh, my god."

"So?"

"It was great," Maura said. "Probably some of the best."

Jane rested her head against the back of the couch and rested a hand across her eyes, as if obstructing her vision might somehow make the whole thing more bearable. Though she did see a little grin flit across Jane's lips at Maura's superlative.

"That's it?"

"Seriously, ma. You're achieving extra levels of obnoxiously nosy right now, and she clearly doesn't want to talk about it," Jane said.

"Is that true, hon? Am I bothering you, because I never meant it. I only wanted to have some girl talk. You know, I married young, so I never got to do much of that," Angela said. "Sometimes I can be a bit much, I guess."

Jane offered an eyeroll in response, though Maura couldn't help feeling a little bad for Angela. She sensed some truth in what Angela had said. So her response came as an attempt to comfort the other woman and without much thought to the consequences.

"It's alright," Maura said.

"No, it's not. I was rude and nosy," Angela said.

"No you weren't. You were just curious. It's a natural human impulse to wonder about these things," Maura said.

Even as she said it, Maura wondered why she hadn't allowed Jane's interruption to effectively end the conversation. Sometimes she just could not help herself.

"You're so sweet," Angela said as she pulled Maura into a big hug before Maura could explain that she only liked hugs from a select few people. "Just one more question though. I'm sure my prudish daughter won't object to this one."

"That sounds relatively safe," Maura said pleasantly, relieved that it sounded as though Angela was moving away from dangerous conversation. She even smiled at Angela's wildly inaccurate characterization of her daughter as a prude.

"What was her name?"

"What?" Maura asked, her glass nearly slipping out of her hand. She gulped. "Why do you ask?"

Angela shrugged.

"I like to know names of things, people, you know, stuff. Thought since Jane won't let me ask any other stuff that'd be safe enough, so we can bond and stuff, like you said," Angela said. She smiled vaguely as she examined her half empty glass. "What's her name?"

"Ma-

"I'll tell her," Maura blurted out without understanding why she'd ever let the words come out of her mouth.

Well. With those words, Maura realized that she had officially managed to turn the evening into one of the more supremely uncomfortable encounters of her entire, socially awkward life.

 


	6. Deep Breathing

" _I like to know names of things, people, you know, stuff. Thought since Jane won't let me ask any other stuff that'd be safe enough, so we can bond and stuff like you said," Angela said. She smiled vaguely as she examined her half empty glass. "What's the name of the woman you slept with?"_

" _Ma-_

" _I'll tell her," Maura blurted out without understanding why she'd ever let the words come out of her mouth._

_Well. With those words, Maura realized that she had officially managed to turn the evening into one of the more supremely uncomfortable encounters of her entire, socially awkward life._

That, right there, was one of a number of problems with alcohol. Consuming it tended to drastically increase the chances of Maura saying foolish and extraordinarily counterproductive things.

Jane shook her head vehemently behind Angela's back, and Maura nodded to indicate that she understood Jane's meaning. Maura was going to do it, and it wasn't going to be pleasant, but she saw no other way to save face, not after foiling for the third time Jane's effort to remedy the situation. Maura would have to tell a bold faced lie and hope that her alcohol consumption would explain her physiological reaction.

Or maybe, just maybe, Maura could get away with using another name that related enough to 'Jane' that it wouldn't have been a complete lie. Only problem was that Maura was having some difficulty coming up with any such name under pressure, so she had to go with the first one that popped into her head.

"Juanita," Maura said. She almost immediately felt her skin grow hot where she knew hives would show up any minute. She should have know that wouldn't work; despite their etymological similarities, the two names were from two distinct language families.

"Juanita, huh? Sounds exotic," Angela said.

Maura nodded and swallowed hard. She looked at Jane who mouthed 'thank you' after raising her eyebrows at Maura's unexpected name choice.

"See, Jane? That was painless, and now we've started that bonding stuff," Angela said.

"Ok, now can we drop it, please? Talk about, I don't know, something else besides her sex life with  _Juanita_?"

"You're not much fun tonight, Jane, you know that?"

The more she thought about it though, the more Maura was able to come up with other names that would have been far more suitable and closely linked than the one she'd chosen. As the seconds ticked by, Maura convinced herself that she actually had effectively lied. She didn't last long before she felt the anxiety start to build.

"I, I'm going to, to the bathroom," Maura said as she got up to hurry to their private bathroom which, fortunately enough, was only a few feet away from Maura's seat on the edge of the sofa.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Maura pressed her back into the cool tile of the bathroom walls. She tried to control her breathing with very little success as she closed her eyes to fight off the light headedness that was creeping up on her. Maura got to the point where she hardly registered the fact that Jane had hurried after her and was standing in front of her.

"Maura? Maura, are you ok? Are you gonna be sick?" Jane asked.

Maura shook her head.

"What's wrong then? You got like wicked pale and bolted like you were gonna puke," Jane said.

"I lied. I just lied to your mother, Jane," Maura said.

"Um, ok, but, you know I do that to her all the time, and she usually doesn't take it personally," Jane said. "Besides isn't Juanita technically like a different version of my name?"

"It is the feminine of the name Juan, which is commonly translated as John, and Jane is the feminine version of John," Maura said. The explanation made her feel marginally better, though she couldn't help one particularly troubling fact. "But women named Juanita occasional prefer the slightly less literal 'Jenny' as an abbreviated translation. And one comes from a romance languages, while the other is more rooted in the Germanic languages. Those are two entirely different language groups!"

"Well, let's just go with the first part about the John/Jane thing. How 'bout that?" Jane said as she kept her hands on Maura's shoulders and looked directly at Maura, as if attempting to ground her.

She was doing her best to calm Maura down, and Maura appreciated that, but Jane, without knowledge of Maura's physical inability to lie, seemed puzzled and troubled by Maura's physiological reaction to what Maura had convinced herself was a lie.

But Maura did as Jane suggested and focused on the etymological connection and she began to feel calmer, though only calm enough that she wouldn't pass out. She still had a difficult time controlling her breathing and her heart rate was well above normal.

"I just, I need, I feel as though, I feel faint," Maura said between taking deep, steadying breathes.

"Ok, ok, um, you want some water? A cold towel or something?" Jane asked, then added with a nervous smile. "I'm not the doc here."

Had she had all of her wits about her, Maura would have informed Jane that her specialty left her ill-prepared for that type of medical care anyway.

"Distract me," Maura said. "Do something."

"Like what?"

"Anything, just, something. I need to focus on something," Maura said. "Sometimes it helps."

Jane abruptly pulled off the fitted t-shirt she'd been wearing and dropped it on the floor so that she stood in just shorts and a bra. Well, that was surprising and a little distracting, but not quite enough to keep Maura from fixating on the lie she'd just told. Also, it was a little puzzling that getting naked was Jane's first thought.

"What?" Maura asked between deep breaths. " _What_  are you doing?"

"I couldn't think of anything else," Jane said, a little defensively. "Kinda panicked a little. I'm not great with the first aid stuff. Didn't hurt though, right?"

"But why?"

"It's been distracting me all night not being able to undress you, so I figured why not," Jane said. "Maybe me being a little naked'll help distract you."

Jane's logic definitely had it glaringly obvious flaws that Maura normally would have pointed out, but the conversation was helping a little bit, so Maura just nodded as she continued her deep breathing exercise.

Maura had to admit that the partial nudity was also distracting to her, perhaps more so than the conversation. If a small amount of partial nudity distracted a little bit, Maura could only conclude that more nudity would be even more effective.

"More," Maura managed to say between her deep, calming breathes.

Jane unbuttoned her shorts and kicked them off so that they landed by her shirt.

"Better?" Jane asked with that confident, almost cocky grin.

Maura was definitely feeling better now. Not great, but definitely better, and far more aroused.

"A little," Maura said as she nodded. For the first time in their conversation, Maura took an unsteady step away from the wall.

Jane took a step closer and rested a hand on Maura's shoulder.

"Can I kiss you? Would that help?" Jane asked. It was soft and concerned, not overtly sexual in the way that Jane had been during most of their encounters. "Won't make you swoon or anything, right?"

Maura's eyes flicked down to Jane's lips, then up to her eyes and back to her lips. Maura bit her own lip and nodded. She could feel her anxiety ebb away as Jane moved her hand up to Maura's neck. Maura's eyes fluttered closed as Jane pressed her lips to Maura's. Jane moved more slowly than usual, a little more delicately, waiting for Maura to make the move to deepen the kiss. Waiting for Maura to decide at what pace to move the kiss from almost-chaste to steamy to scorching.

Maura even pulled up her own dress so that she could more effectively pull Jane up against her. By that point, her breathlessness was entirely different from the breathlessness she'd felt when she first burst into the bathroom. Which reminded Maura...

"Jane, your mother," Maura said after pulling away from Jane.

"So not the visual I need right now," Jane said. She smiled and trailed kissed along Maura's jaw before nipping her ear lobe.

"But she's right outside, Jane," Maura said.

For some reason, either arousal or alcohol, likely a combination of the two, it appeared as though that were the first time the thought had occurred to Jane. She contemplated a second before walking over to the door, flicking the lock closed and returning to kiss Maura.

Jane's hand moved up Maura's thigh, pulling the fabric of the dress up even higher than it already had been. In return, Maura trailed her fingers down Jane's back, dragging her nails with just the slightest bit of pressure over Jane's skin, just the way she'd learnt that Jane liked it.

Maura had reached the point where she was ready to rip off both Jane's underwear and her own when there was a loud knock on the door. Both woman froze in place, Jane in just a bra and underwear, pressed up against Maura, in what now looked like a wildly, inappropriately short dress.

"Jane! Is everything ok?" Angela called as she jiggled the doorknob. "Why'd you lock the door?"

"Shit! I told her to stay put," Jane whispered as she pulled on her shorts with impressive speed before grabbing her tanktop.

"Jane, do you want me to get Gerald?" Angela asked.

"No, ma! No, I'm coming," Jane called back quickly before Angela could follow through on her threat.

She glanced in the mirror, ran a hand through her hair and rubbed a lipstick mark off of her neck and lower lip before turning back to Maura.

"Stay here," Jane whispered. "I'll take care of it."

* * *

Jane could not believe how incredibly weird the entire night had been. Like, Jane seriously thought she was on a hidden camera show that put people into mortifying situations repeatedly just for shits and giggles. There was no other way to explain how Jane had spent the night in a VIP lounge with her female fuck buddy and drunk mother as said drunk mother asked eagerly about how the sex was with said fuck buddy. If that hadn't been enough, Jane had a hyperventilating woman to calm down and the best she could think to do was strip, all before Angela very nearly caught Jane making out, half naked with another woman. Only thing that would have made the evening more mortifying would have been if Angela had checked on them about a minute earlier and opened the door to see Jane's tongue in Maura's mouth and her hands in very compromising places.

"Hey, ma," Jane said, opening the door just enough so that Angela could see Jane. Jane figured she'd give Maura some time to regroup and look presentable.

"What's up? Is she ok?"

"Yeah, she's fine, just, she's not feeling herself is all," Jane said.

"Well, if she's sick, let me see her," Angela said as she tried to peek over Jane's shoulder.

Jane took a step forward and closed the door behind her.

"She's fine, ma," Jane said. "I took care of her."

Angela narrowed her eyes at Jane.

"I still say I'm better suited to take care of puking people. I've raised three kids, you know," Angela said.

"I know, but I've got a little more experience with the type of thing that made her feel better," Jane said, biting back a laugh at how ridiculous the situation was.

"If that's your way of saying you drink a lot, then you better watch it, Jane," Angela said, pointing at Jane. "You're the good one, Jane. I don't need you having a drinking problem too. One's enough."

Jane was saved from having to respond to Angela's reference to Tommy when Maura opened the door to the bathroom.

"One what?" Maura asked.

"Nothing," Jane said. "And don't worry, ma. I'm still the good one, always will be."

"Oh, Jane," Angela said, wrapping Jane in a big hug despite Jane's well documented discomfort with hugs. "I love you so much. I know I complain Janie, but you're always such a good girl. You're my good girl. Always."

"I love you too, ma," Jane said, patting Angela's back as she glanced over at Maura apologetically.

But Maura didn't look mildly amused by the comically excessive affection. She looked touched, maybe a little wistful. Jane was reminded of their first conversation about Maura's emotionally distant parents and wondered if that could have something to do with it. Could it be that Maura  _wanted_ this kind of affection from her mother? Did she get that little love from her parents?

Well, those kinds of thoughts were thoroughly depressing and completely unproductive for Jane, both in the big picture 'she's only your sex friend for a few more days' situation, and the shorter term 'we need to find a way to get the hell out of here' situation.

"Ok, ma," Jane said, untangling herself from her mother's grip, which was surprisingly strong. "We should probably go now. Like I said, Maura's not feeling herself."

Maura glanced down at her shoes, but said nothing to contradict Jane. Good, so she'd learnt her lesson about that kind of interruption.

Angela looked over at Maura, and Jane hoped that she was drunk enough to not notice that Maura looked absolutely fine. Her cheeks and neck were still a little flush, but other than that Maura looked like the picture of health. Better than she had for most of the night, probably from freshening up while Jane held off Angela.

"Well, it was wonderful to meet you," Angela said as she pulled Maura into a hug. Jane could tell from the way Maura stiffened a little that she, too was only a fan of selective hugging. To Maura's credit though, she did hug back.

"Likewise," Maura said, smiling her sincere smile. She was just so damn  _nice_. To a drunk woman who had invaded her privacy and personal space within hours of introducing herself. And there wasn't a single ounce of insincerity there. "Feel free to stay here if you'd like, though the policy is that bottle service will stop once I leave."

"Oh, you're lovely," Angela said, taking Maura's face in her hands."Isn't she lovely, Jane?"

"Yeah, ma," Jane said. "She's great. But I think we need to get you back to your room. You're kind of shitfaced."

In a testament to her own drunkenness, Angela ignored Jane's swearing and just shrugged before walking towards the door while Jane and Maura followed.

"It really was lovely having that girl time," Angela said, opening the door to the main club. If it was possible, the music seemed to have gotten louder and the crowd larger in the time since they'd last seen the floor.

"We should do it again sometime," she yelled over the music.

Yeah, it'd be right be right on top of Jane's bucket list right after 'have every tooth pulled with a pair of rusty pliers.'

Jane nodded to keep from saying just that to her mother. Maura nodded to Gerald and pointed towards the exit.

"Pleasure having you, ma'am," Gerald said. "We hope to see you again."

"Thank you," Maura said, reaching into her purse and pulling out several bills to hand over to the man. "It was lovely."

He nodded politely and grinned as she pressed the money into his hand.

"So where to now?" Maura asked as they made their way across the club. So, apparently she'd forgotten to act the part of the sickly one.

Jane waited to get just outside the club doors to answer Maura. It also gave her the opportunity to talk to Maura without her mother as rapt audience. Angela loved tropical things, so Jane pointed out the large fish tanks at the entrance to the club. The distraction worked, since, as expected, drunk Angela found the display endlessly fascinating.

"Well, I'm gonna get this one back to bed," Jane said, gesturing to her mother, then added, just in case her mother was paying attention, "After that I'll check in, see how you're feeling."

"Oh, ok. I am feeling better," Maura said. Then Jane nodded her head in the direction of her mother, whose back was to them a few feet away. "Though it's best to be sure about these things."

"Yeah, see you in a little bit," Jane said. A sudden thought occurred to her as she recalled the last time she'd been in Maura's room. She took Maura by the arm and spoke just above a whisper so that Angela couldn't hear. "Don't forget. You owe me."

"And I always repay my debts," Maura said. "See you in ten?"

"Make it five," Jane said.

With Angela still preoccupied by the fish, Jane took the opportunity to watch Maura and that gorgeous, fitted dress walk away for a few seconds.

Well, Jane thought, maybe the night wouldn't be so bad after all.

**A/N-Just so you know, getting naked is not a doctor recommended solution to hyperventilation. I have, however, had experience with bouts of anxiety and having a distraction does sometimes help. I've just never tried to use toplessness as that distraction:)**

 


	7. Unexpected Firsts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N-A reviewer once described the vacation chapters as a little fantastical, and I totally agree. The whole story won't be quite so fantastical, but it's kinda fun to indulge in that type of fantasy once in awhile. We will be returning back to Earth very shortly...

Maura did a number of things on this particular vacation that she'd never done before. It was, in a way, a vacation of firsts. There were mundane firsts: first time on a Caribbean cruise, first time vacationing without a companion or family member. There were also unexpected first: first time Maura had ever rented out a nightclub VIP room, first time ordering room service and eating that room service in bed while completely naked, first time socializing with a casual sex partner's mother. Then there were the sexual firsts.

One of which had occurred on the very same night she was fairly certain Angela had irrevocably ruined the mood for the evening. Maura had been sure of it until Jane mentioned repayment outside the club.

Maura was thrilled that one of their few evenings together hadn't been ruined by the unexpected turn of events. As she walked back to the room, she ran through the possible rewards that she'd thought up for Jane, trying to determine which one was most appropriate for the situation. Maura grinned as she opened the door to her suite when the perfect idea hit her.

So far Jane and Maura had not seen a need for any accessories, but that did not mean Maura did not have a select few packed, just in case. And Maura knew exactly which one to pick.

Maura hadn't made extensive use of sex toys with the women she slept with; usually the relationships were too short-lived to warrant going through the trouble. The relationship with Jane wasn't any different, but this was to be a reward, and a reward, by definition, was something that one gave to another person that they would not otherwise receive.

So Maura would give Jane the opportunity to use the toy however she wished. Maura had never offered that reward to any of the women she'd slept with; she usually liked to have some measure of control and power in the sexual relationship.

Because of that, Maura had been hesitant to relinquish power so willingly at first, but was later very glad that she did. There was a physicality to Jane, to the way she moved and touched Maura that Maura found was unique to Jane. Maura had known that from the moment they'd met, but now, with complete, uncontested control, it came off of Jane in waves. Maura felt herself drawn to that energy in a purely physical way; she wanted that physicality in and around her at all times. On that night, Jane had been more than willing to give it to her. Repeatedly.

Needless to say, despite being a first for Maura, the reward had been a resounding success.

There was also one other first that Maura couldn't place in any one category, a big first that didn't quite belong exclusively in the sexual category just because it was so entirely unexpected as well.

Maura spent the better part of her day in bed with another person. She never considered herself a prude by any stretch of the imagination; on the contrary, Maura had no qualms about engaging in sex regularly, as she'd proven to herself in this tryst with Jane and a few other casual partners she'd had over the years. The associated health benefits of safe, responsible sex far outweighed any prudish impulses Sister Mary Ellen had tried to instill in her and her classmates in the Sunday school she'd attended out of curiosity while home from boarding school one summer.

No, prudishness was definitely not the reason she'd never done it before. It had more to do with the utilitarian view Maura had of sex. She had only ever had two meaningful, long term relationships, and even then the logical side of Maura saw no feasible reason to remain in bed with another person for such an extended period of time.

With this new fling though, this Jane Rizzoli, thing were different. Not in a sentimental, emotional way, but in a purely physical way. Admittedly, Maura suspected that the intensity of her arousal with Jane came from the fact that they knew so little about each other at the start of the relationship. But, now, having spent an entire week with Jane, Maura suspected there had been more to the attraction.

Maura knew there was more. Jane must have something that made Maura so eager, desperate even, to have sex with Jane; no, just to be near Jane, to be touching Jane at all times. She couldn't pinpoint it though, and that bothered the doctor to no end.

"You look kind of pissed," Jane said. She lay flat on her back next to Maura, one hand resting on her bare stomach the other under her head while Maura laid on her back staring up at the ceiling, which Maura was just now noticing was painted a soft, very light sea foam green.

"I'm not upset," Maura said, turning on her side and running a finger down Jane's arm then back up. "I'm puzzled. I cannot seem to figure you out."

"I'm an enigma, I guess," Jane said, laughing to herself. "I guess you don't have to worry too much about it now. Soon you'll be back in San Francisco or wherever the hell you're working and I'll be back, well, in the same place I've always been."

"I suppose," Maura said. "I'm just not particularly fond of things that I don't understand."

Although Jane had set in place a 'vacation sex only' policy and Maura wholeheartedly agreed, a part of her was still sad at the thought that she wouldn't get to have such good sex with such frequency once she and Jane parted way. She couldn't readily understand the contradiction between her eagerness to remain temporary, casual sex partners and her reluctance to ending the relationship at the agreed upon time.

But the longer she thought about it the more she managed to make sense of it.

Maura reasoned that she was going to miss Jane in the same way that a person misses a vacation destination. Jane had been a nice escape from the reality, a fantasy fulfilled. But this, much like a vacation on a secluded, one person island, wasn't a fantasy that was sustainable.

"Well, let me get rid of all that worry it looks like you've got going on," Jane said as she rose and knelt on either side of Maura's waist. "And I'll make things real simple for you."

Jane bent down and kissed Maura as if it they hadn't kissed well over twenty times in the past week, with the kind of intensity meant to make everything else go away. Maura let it, she let all of that wondering go away, in part because she wanted to let it go, and in part because Jane's hands had moved between her legs and Maura could not have thought of much else even if she wanted to.

* * *

Jane's parting from her vacation sex friend was unsentimental and actually quite nonchalant. She gave Maura her number if Maura was ever in town again and wanted to hook up. Aside from that, there had been no big goodbye. Except, of course, for the marathon sex session, but that had more to do with the fact that it was her free day, the one day where her parents insisted she go off on her own and enjoy herself, than with any emotional attachment on either of their parts. It 'd been like a a summer romance type thing; fun while it last, but neither woman had any illusions about the fact that it would come to it's inevitable, natural end. There really wasn't a ton of angst about the whole thing, and Jane liked it like that. She couldn't deal with the kind of emotional stuff that came with anything more complicated or involved.

So, why, about three weeks after arriving back in Boston, did Jane find herself staring at that phone number as if she were considering calling the woman? She wouldn't. Jane never would, but just looking at the number gave her a small thrill, to think of those hours spent in Maura's luxury bed between Maura's zillion thread count sheets. When Korsak strolled over, Jane snapped the phone shut and tried to look busy.

"Hey where you off to so early?" Jane asked as she slipped her cell back in her pocket.

"Finished up on my papers, just on my way to the briefing," Korsak said.

"What is it with all the goddamn meetings? No wonder I have paperwork here from two weeks ago, we're always being told shit we already know," Jane said.

Korsak shrugged.

"Guess it's something real important this time. Brass said it wouldn't take too long, just a quick announcement," he said.

"Hmm," Jane muttered. "I guess I'll meet you there then."

Jane took her time finishing off the form in front of her. She knew that a few of the guys in the department had a habit of being chronically late, so there was no need to rush after Korsak.

When Jane finally did reach the conference room, she took one of the last remaining swivel chairs, much to the disappointment of Crowe and Turino, who were forced to stand in the back as the captain addressed the entire homicide unit.

The usual first order of business, chastising everyone for late paperwork, was relatively quick and painless. The second order of business, a few personal announcements about Turino's wife having a boy, things like that, went by quickly too. Jane began to wonder if the captain even had any news or if this meeting was just a formality. Then, just when Jane thought that the meeting should be adjourned, captain announced that they were getting a new member of the team.

Jane looked around to see that just about all of the other detectives appeared pretty surprised by the news as well. Usually those types of things got at least a few weeks' notice.

"Because of unforeseen circumstances that the DA will not discuss, Doctor Holmes tendered his resignation yesterday," captain said. He paused to allow the frenzied murmur about backed up autopsy reports before continuing.

"However, a friend of the city of Boston has offered to step in on a permanent basis for Doctor Holmes. She is one of the best in her field and I trust that you will all treat her as such. She is moving in today and will be officially instated and introduced by the end of the week."

Despite the excited chatter about the new M.E. after the meeting ended, Jane noticed that none of the guys actually bothered to go down to meet the mystery doctor. Jane figured this would be an opportune time to get in good with the new M.E., maybe get her to hurry along an autopsy or two.

Before anyone else could beat her to the M.E., Jane slipped silently out of the room and down the stairs towards the morgue.

* * *

 

Maura did not like to rush. She refused to rush autopsy reports, and even eating a good meal took a certain amount of attention and thoroughness. For that very reason, she felt more than a little frazzled at the prospect of moving into a new job in a new city and getting to work in the span of a little less than a week.

The housing was not an issue, as Maura already owned a house in Boston from when she was in graduate and medical school. It was more the prospect of arranging her new office that Maura found daunting. She needed to find an appropriate place for her writing implements, set up an area for completed reports, find another area for report requests and get acquainted with the setup of this particular morgue.

The only reason that she had taken the job on such short notice was the location. She honestly missed living in the Boston area and this job was a perfect opportunity to return to the area that Maura knew so well from her years in college.

Maura turned to puzzling over the matter of how she should arrange her medical reference texts. There was always the traditional alphabetical order, or she could arrange them by subject, and within that subject alphabetize according to author. Then she recalled one particularly eccentric professor who had arranged the books according to color. Although impractical and essentially useless, Maura had to admit that the arrangement was aesthetically pleasing, so it remained an option.

As Maura sorted through her first box of books, she thought she heard the door to the morgue open, but decided to ignore it. Hopefully whoever it was would think she was out and leave so that Maura could get back to arranging her office.

No such luck though, because Maura heard the footsteps move closer. Then she heard a knock on the door. Now she could not very well ignore that; whoever it was could probably hear her rummaging through her things.

Maura stood up, straightened out her shirt and ran her hands over her skirt. This would, after all, be a first time meeting, and Maura was all about making good first impressions. There was another, more impatient knock on the door. Goodness, Maura thought, this person really was persistent and impatient.

Mildly annoyed at her visitor's impatience, Maura walked briskly across her office and opened the door. She stopped in her tracks and, in an extraordinarily rare inarticulate moment, simply stared at her visitor. Standing in front of her was the very same woman who, in a casual vacation fling, had given Maura some of the best sex of her entire life.

 


	8. Immersion Therapy

 

Jane blinked a few times. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, but she was still there. The woman Jane thought that she would probably never see again was standing in front of her, looking equally confused and disoriented. Jane couldn't find her voice for a second, and when she did, it wasn't exactly brilliantly smooth stuff that came out of her mouth.

"What are you doing here?"

Shit. With the rudeness yet again. But seriously, what the hell was a doctor from California doing in Boston PD morgue?

No…surely it couldn't be. It would be way too obvious and way too awkward if her vacation sex friend was…

"I am the new medical examiner," Maura said as she looked at Jane with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. "I could ask you the same question."

Had Jane been able to speak actual words at that point, she probably would have put together a string of swears that would make Korsak blush.

Only then did it strike Jane that Maura didn't know what Jane did for a living. They had been far too busy with other, more pleasant things to talk about mundane crap like the specifics of their day jobs. As far as Maura knew, Jane could have been a florist or some ridiculous crap like that.

"I work here," Jane said shortly, then realized what a royal bitch she was being and added hastily, "as a detective. In homicide. I'm a homicide detective."

"Oh," Maura said, then after another pause, her face shifted. " _Oh_."

A look of realization had dawned on Maura's face that Jane could not quite read. Sure there was some surprise, shock even, that her vacations sex friend was now ex-vacation-sex-friend-turned-coworker. There was something else there in the normally composed doctor that Jane couldn't quite pick up on with the ease that she could usually read people. Maura was about to say something more when she was interrupted. Rather rudely, Jane might add.

"Hey, Rizzoli, you already down here waiting to kiss ass with the new ME," Crowe said before seeing that the ME was standing right there, looking as gorgeous as the first time Jane had seen her, with perfectly done hair and makeup and an obviously expensive, custom tailored blouse-skirt combo.

Before Maura could correct Crowe and say that Jane had, in fact, already literally kissed Maura's fabulous ass, Jane turned around and stood instinctively between Crowe and Maura.

"Just introducing myself," Jane said folding her arms over her chest and standing with her head cocked to the side.

"Yeah," Crowe said, rolling his eyes as if he didn't believe a word that came out of Jane's mouth. Though Jane at least tolerated most of the guys in her division, Crowe was one smarmy bastard that Jane had a difficult time putting up with.

"Anyway," Crowe said, edging his way around Jane so that he could lean in the doorway and speak to Maura. He flashed what was probably suppose to be a charming grin. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Detective Crowe."

"Doctor Isles," Maura said, shaking Crowe's hand and smiling politely. "I'm the new medical examiner."

"I had gathered as much, you know, detective and all," Crowe said, with that stupid smile as he gestured to his badge. "I was actually hoping that you might be able to help me out on a case."

"I would be happy to," Maura said, glancing at Jane, then back at Crowe. "But I am not officially instated yet and it would be against protocol to do case work. Any conviction resulting from my work could be overturned by the right judge."

"C'mon, all I really need is a—

"Crowe, I think she was pretty clear," Jane interrupted. "There's nothing that you need right now. And if there were, the state has other pathologists that you can call."

Jane noticed that Maura looked decidedly uncomfortable with how close Crowe remained standing. Either that or she still hadn't adjusted to Jane's sudden appearance. Whatever the reason, Maura had taken to glancing at Jane more often than she looked at Crowe, and Jane felt a sudden, compelling urge to get Crowe out of the room.

Crowe raised his eyebrows and looked to Maura as if he were waiting for Maura to correct Jane.

"I really do apologize," Maura said. "I can give you the phone number of a very competent local pathologist if you would like."

"No, thanks, I'm good," Crowe said taking a step back from the doorway and shooting Jane a nasty look. "See you around, doc."

Crowe walked quickly across the morgue and closed the door behind him. After hearing the heavy thud, Jane wondered why it was she had been so desperate to get alone with Maura again. There was no end to this encounter that Jane could see working out in her favor.

"Thank you," Maura said. She looked down at the floor, then back up. "I didn't need the help, but thank you regardless."

"Yeah, no, no problem," Jane said, doing her best to stick to generalities. "That guy's kind of an ass, just gotta keep an eye out, you know."

"I will, thank you," Maura said. There was a long, epically long it seemed, pause before Maura spoke again, abruptly, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "Would you like to have some coffee? Get to know each other, as coworkers of course."

"No," Jane said immediately and abruptly before her filter could go into effect. It was like her body's fight or flight response had kicked into high gear and screamed into her ear to get the hell out. "I mean, I'm just kinda busy with overdue paperwork and stuff right now. It's not that I don't want, you know, I just have—

"Of course, yes, I understand," Maura said, smiling politely, the same detached smile she had given Crowe. "I have a lot of work myself to get done by the end of the week."

"Yeah, well, maybe another time though," Jane offered weakly as she took a step back.

"Oh, yes, definitely," Maura said, smiling once more, resting her hand on the door while waiting for Jane's response. "I should really get back to work now."

"Oh, yeah, of course," Jane said, suddenly startled by the fact that she had just been staring at Maura unashamedly while the doctor stood there looking back. Jane moved quickly, taking to steps back. "Yeah, see you later."

"Bye," Maura said, waving with one hand as she closed the door with the other.

* * *

After closing the door, Maura turned around and stared straight ahead at the half empty bookshelf behind her desk. Of all of the medical examiner posts in the entire country and all of the police divisions, not to mentions all the bars in all of the cruise ships going out of Boston, what were the chances? What was the probability that Jane and Maura would ever meet each other, let alone meet each other yet again as coworkers in Boston PD? Maura couldn't think of any feasible way to determine the exact odds, but they seemed staggeringly low.

She leaned up against the door, closing her eyes as she took a deep, calming breath. Maura did not deal especially well with surprises and difficult social situations, and Jane's sudden presence in her office had presented her with both. Maura decided that she would just have to simplify things.

Facts, she need facts, not these confusing, unexpectedly complicated feelings. Not that Maura had any romantic attachment to Jane. No, Jane hadn't crossed Maura's mind _that_  much in the time since vacation. Even then, Maura didn't dwell on Jane. She, like any other person, liked to use positive sexual and social experiences to elevate her mood. And there had been no risk of it being anything more complex than that. Not until she'd opened that door.

Yes, Maura convinced herself, she just needed cold, hard objective fact to re-simplify this thing. First she would distill the situation into its key components, boil it down to the very basics.

Though the details of their circumstance were rather unusual, a basic summary of their relationship wasn't exactly groundbreaking territory. They were two adult women who'd engaged in casual sex. And now they were coworkers. That type thing happened all the time. Maura knew it did because she'd read several sociological and psychological studies on the matter.

Those studies had also indicated that clear communication on the status of the relationship was often key to having a fruitful working relationship.

It seemed then that the only course of action would be to clarify the status of the relationship with Jane. Maura would first broach the subject indirectly to gauge Jane's willingness to have that discussion. If Jane resisted, ignored, or otherwise overlooked Maura's indirect references, then Maura would eventually confront the situation by questioning Jane directly.

She knew it might generate awkward conversation, but Maura could deal with that, had dealt with awkward conversations all her life. The thing she couldn't put up with for any length of time was guessing, and that's what she'd have to do if she didn't clarify the status of the relationship with Jane. The longer she let herself and Jane avoid, the longer she would have to guess at how Jane perceived their relationship.

There were no two ways about it, Maura thought as she took a deep breath and stepped away from her door. They needed to get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later.

* * *

The second time that Jane saw Maura did not got much better than their first meeting. It was just profoundly strange to have this person that Jane so closely associated with vacation showing up in her work life. Then there was the part where Jane was also more accustomed to seeing Maura naked than clothed. It was distracting and monumentally awkward, and just not something Jane felt like dealing with on top of a grueling double murder that she and Frost were working on.

"Frost, call the morgue see if they've found the caliber gun," Jane said without looking up from her report.

"Why?" Frost asked. The frustration in his voice was understandable, since it was the third time Jane was asking him to make a call like this one. She'd pulled the seniority card the first two times, but that only worked so many times in one day and Jane was nearing her limit.

"Because it looks like the first vic's girlfriend owns a .45," Jane replied.

"No, I mean why won't you call down. New ME's going to think I'm a pain in the ass," Frost said.

"Because I said so, junior. Last time I promise. I'm just on a roll here," Jane said. She feigned intense interest in the photographs of ex's bedroom, which had nothing to offer and had only been taken as a matter of procedure.

Frost rolled his eyes, but picked up his desk phone to dial the morgue extension.

"Hi, Doctor Isles, so sorry to bother you again," Frost said. "Detective Rizzoli was just wondering if you have any idea on the bullet caliber."

Jane wished that Frost hadn't added the completely irrelevant piece of information. But the alternative would have been speaking to Maura when it wasn't strictly necessary, and Jane had decided to make as little conversation as possible with Maura.

Jane wouldn't always be a chickenshit about the situation. She only needed a little time to get use to it, to adjust her perception of Maura, and that meant she'd have to take Maura in the smallest possible doses. Jane needed to build up a tolerance, a resistance to the impulse to kiss and grope Maura.

"Well, she would, but she says she's extremely busy," Frost said. He listened for a few seconds before nodding and responding. "Ok, I'll tell her."

"What've they got?" Jane asked.

"Bullet from the first vic was too mangled for any tests," Frost said. "She's gonna take a look at the second vic now."

Jane sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Oh, and she wants you down there to observe the autopsy," Frost added as he ducked back behind his computer screen.

"Why can't you go?" Jane asked. Really, it more closely resembled a whine, but Jane Rizzoli didn't whine, so she refused to think of it that way.

Frost shrugged.

"She asked for you. Besides, I hate autopsy and you used up all your favors on phone calls today," Frost said. "Better hurry. She'll be opening him up any time now."

Jane pushed back forcefully from her desk, groaning for emphasis as she stood.

"Have fun," Frost said, grinning.

As Jane she passed Frost's desk, she gave him the dirtiest look she could muster. Absolutely nothing about the autopsy was going to lead to anything fun. Autopsies were never fun. Tolerable, yeah. Occasionally even interesting and fruitful, but never  _fun_.

And this one had the added bonus of being a kid in his early twenties with a bullet wound to the chest.

And then, the jackpot of all jackpots, it would be a good chunk of time spent alone with Maura. Jane had never, ever been alone with Maura without at least kissing her. She'd hoped to work her way up to this level of alone time, but there Jane was, in autopsy with Maura roughly 48 hours after learning they'd be working together. Instead of building a tolerance, Jane was being forced into Maura immersion therapy.

Jane managed to take long enough getting to the morgue that Maura had just begun her work. She was apparently in the zone, because she didn't notice Jane's presence until Jane was all suited up and ready.

"Hello, Jane," Maura said, glancing up from her work as Jane approached the table.

"Hey, um, hey there, you," Jane said. She felt weird using Maura's first name because she never did that with the ME, but she felt equally strange about addressing the woman she'd only ever known casually in such a formal way.

"You may call me by my first name if that's what you're more comfortable with," Maura said, keeping her eyes down and focused on the body. "I believe you've earned that."

So that had to be Maura's way of trying to talk about their precarious situation. Jane should have taken the opportunity, and a part of her really wanted to, but another, larger part of her was determined to avoid, at least until she knew what the hell to say.

"Ok...Maura. Anything interesting so far?" Jane asked.

"No more than there was when Detective Frost last called on your behalf," Maura said. "Why didn't you call?"

"Huh?" was the only semi-coherent sound Jane could make as she swallowed hard to push down the nervous energy the question had created.

"The morgue. Why didn't you call the morgue yourself?" Maura said in the easiest, most conversational way as she tilted her head at a weird, uncomfortable angle to get a better look at what appeared to be the contents of the man's stomach.

"Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah, I was busy," Jane said, eager to move the conversation in another direction. "And Frost's younger, so he does all the stuff I can't or don't wanna do," Jane said.

"I see. That's actually a fairly common hierarchical distribution of duties. It dates back to ancient times during which the eldest member of certain tribal groups was appointed unilateral leader of the group, and therefore allowed to choose which tasks he would partake in," Maura said without pausing or even hesitating as she did what looked like some very delicate work with the scalpel. "Why did you come to the morgue then?"

"Huh?" Jane replied. The sudden question after that odd little info dump apparently had the ability to rendered Jane incapable of actual words.

"If you are the leader of your two person unit, then why did you choose to come here even though Detective Frost said you were very busy?" Maura asked.

"Ran out of favors," Jane said. She moved from her spot leaning against the table and took a step towards the open body. "What are you looking at now?"

Maura stopped what she was doing and looked up at Jane, like she was trying to diagnose her or something. It was this odd expression where she tilted her head to the side, squinted her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line. Jane hadn't seen that look on vacation, so it seemed out of place on the doctor. Not unpleasant, just out of place. Out of place enough that Jane felt it necessary to avoid direct eye contact.

"The lungs show signs that he was a casual smoker, though the condition of his heart is unremarkable," Maura said.

"Good, I guess. What about the bullet though?" Jane asked.

"It doesn't appear as though the bullet hit any major arteries or vital organs. Given the proper treatment, he would likely have survived," Maura said. Her head was bent close to the body as she worked around the area where the bullet appeared to have lodged. After a few minutes of careful work, she held up the bullet which looked to be in decent shape before dropping it into the metal dish.

"The wound and bullet are consistent with an injury caused by a .45 caliber handgun," Maura said. She stopped her work for a moment, took the bowl with the bullet and held it out for Jane to see. She managed to make direct, extended eye contact with Jane for the first time in the visit, partly because Jane hadn't been expecting it.

Jane held eye contact for the few seconds it took her to take the bowl and even for a second after. It was kind of hard not to look at Maura, even when she was pretty well covered by autopsy gear. The woman seemed made to be looked at.

Then, to make matters worse, Maura's hand brushed Jane's fingers, which brought back all kinds of good memories of simpler, sexier times with Maura.

And that was why Jane had wanted to stay away for these alone time situations. If a cut open dead body and the fact that one of them was wearing bloody latex gloves didn't kill the sexy vibe they had going, then Jane wasn't sure what could.

"Thanks," Jane said, looking down at the bullet, which did appear to be a .45. "That's, um, helpful."

"Is it?" Maura asked, sincerely curious, probably hoping for a way to start conversation.

Jane wanted to be friendly and cordial and polite and all those things, but she couldn't be that way when her mind was stuck on a loop that only played images of Maura looking good naked. This wasn't working, the Maura immersion therapy wasn't work, and Jane needed to get out before she said or did something stupid.

"Yeah, it is. I gotta go check something on it," Jane said, taking a step back towards the door as she quickly removed her gloves. "Gotta go, sorry."

Before Maura could say any more, Jane was out the door and heading for the elevator.

* * *

"Frost," Jane said as she walked briskly by his desk. He glanced up from his file then back down again when he saw Jane was looking at him like he'd done something wrong. She spoke again as she took her seat and flipped open her copy of the file. "Bullet was a .45. I'm gonna bring the ex-girlfriend in, see what she has to say."

"Okay," Frost said. Though what she was saying was good news and their first legit lead, Jane looked so tense and tightly wound that she might attack the next person to glance in her direction without permission. She usually only looked that way when they'd hit a few major roadblocks in a row. "You want me to, um, get her for you?"

"No," Jane said as she leafed through the file, probably looking for the right contact info. "But you can do me a favor in the future."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you get to do all the talking with the new M.E. For the next few cases," Jane said.

"Why? She bugging you or something? 'Cuz I mean she's a little different, I guess, but nicer than the last guy," Frost said.

"Yeah, I just, she's, I don't have a problem with her as a person. She's really nice and all. I just I need a little adjusting period is all. You know me. It took awhile to get settled in with you," Jane said. "I don't do well with change."

Frost might have bought that excuse if Jane hadn't tacked on that last bit. Jane was, indeed, very slow to trust any new coworkers, but she was never one to balk at change. She was one of the best at dealing with sudden, radical shifts in the case, a change in suspect, a rapidly changing and escalating situation in interrogation. Frost contemplated calling Jane out on it, but could not see it ending well, not with the way Jane was acting like she was about to jump out of her own skin.

Now was not the time to push his partner. Whatever Jane's bizarre reason for avoiding Dr. Isles, Frost would find out soon enough.

 


	9. Relief

The first ten days of work in Boston were not going well for Maura. Her books were a disorganized mess, with a text on biology by Abrams sitting on the shelf next to a book on preservation of remains in paleontology by Ziggler. Then there was the matter of socializing with a new group of coworkers, a task that Maura failed at more often than not.

Of course, Jane proved to be the single most problematic part of adjusting to the new work environment. The detective refused to talk about anything that was not directly related to a case and had even go so far as to avoid face to face contact unless absolutely necessary, and that meant that Maura only had two conversations alone with Jane.

First there was the one during autopsy, which had been a failed exercise in not staring awkwardly at each other. Then there was another brief conversation in which Jane managed to avoid any significant eye contact while telling Maura that they got a confession out of the jealous ex-girlfriend. Any other interactions were limited to a few brief phone calls and conversations where other officers were present. It took a lot for Maura to notice that someone was avoiding her, but she had no problem realizing that Jane was making every effort to maintain emotional, physical, even professional distance.

Despite that knowledge, Maura had no way of determining the precise cause of Jane's behavior. Perhaps she was upset that they had lost contact in the month since their last meeting, or she could also be attempting to ignore their sexual history in hopes that Maura would do the same. Maybe, just maybe, Jane felt as clueless and lost in this social situation as Maura felt.

That situation wasn't made any easier by the fact that Maura felt an elevated level of hormones associated with sexual arousal whenever she was in Jane's presence. The month since their last sexual encounter had done nothing to decrease the arousal Maura felt when thinking about Jane.

On the contrary, seeing her assertiveness some of the gruff officers in homicide had made Jane even more attractive. Maura knew that the increased attraction merely had to do with a primal instinct to find a mate capable of protection, but that did not change the fact that Maura found Jane nearly irresistible.

Maura couldn't help but think about how that unruly hair had been spread across the pillow of her bed, how sexy Jane's voice sounded in the heat of the moment. How expertly Jane used those lanky fingers…

"Doctor Isles? Hey, doc?"

Maura snapped her head up with her professional smile in place, an automatic reaction for whoever her surprise visitor was. She was happy to see Detective Frost standing in her doorway. In the week she had been working at Boston PD, he had been very kind to her and was one of the more patient detectives in the department.

"Hello, Detective Frost," Maura said. She glanced down at the report that she had been finishing up and saw that she had stopped halfway through writing her own name on the signature line. She finished with a quick flourish and looked up at Frost. "Did you need something?"

"Nope, just heading out to the parking garage and I saw light still on in here," Frost said. He glanced at the empty autopsy tables and took a step into the room. "Is there another body coming in?"

"Oh, no, not that I've heard," Maura said as she closed the manila folder. "I was just completing the Greybeck suicide report. Then I was thinking of looking over some cold case reports in order to familiarize myself with them."

"On a Friday night?" Frost asked, raising his eyebrows. "Last ME didn't stay a minute past 5 if there was no body to cut open."

"I don't consider Fridays to be any more exciting or important than any other day of the week," Maura said. Then she perked up when she remembered the treat she had waiting at home. "Although I do have a documentary on development of electric shock therapy and its effect on the brain chemistry in schizophrenic and bipolar patients."

"Hmm," Frost muttered. "Well, if you want to get out, I'm headed to this bar called the Dirty Robber to meet up with a few other detectives. You're welcome to join in."

Maura did not immediately respond. While she knew the names of each homicide detective, Maura did not know much beyond that about them. She felt her level of social anxiety, held in check by medication and intensive therapy as a child, might kick up.

But Detective Frost was very kind. He could potentially be a good friend and she figured he would not bring her along just to leave her out. If Maura refused the invite, he might take that as a refusal of his friendship.

That didn't change the fact that there were a number of unknown variables that did not sit well with Maura. For example, Detective Crowe might be there and Maura did not care to spend a great deal of time with him outside of work.

"C'mon," Detective Frost said when he noticed her hesitation. "It'll be fun. Besides, Jane might like to have another woman around for once."

"Detective Rizzoli is going to be there?" Maura asked, trying not to sound too interested. This purely social situation could present the perfect opportunity to clear the air with Jane so that they could both move on.

"Yeah, I mean we're partners. I think she'd probably kick my ass if I didn't invite her," Frost said, laughing to himself. "So what do you say? I'm DD tonight so I can drive you there."

* * *

Jane really had no idea what Frost was thinking. What the hell would possess him to bring a woman he knew in passing to their weekly get together? After a very long, trying week, Jane just wanted to relax, enjoy a few beers, go home, and fall asleep for about twelve hours. She did not want to have to worry about complications and censoring herself around Maura, as she had been forced to all week.

Damn Frost and his damn friendliness. Rationally, Jane understood his reason for bringing Maura along to the Robber. She was a gorgeous, apparently single, friendly new coworker. Jane herself had admitted to him that Maura seemed like a genuinely kind, friendly person. Why wouldn't he want to spend more time with the woman? But Jane did not really want to think rationally when she saw Maura smiling enthusiastically as she followed Frost to their table out back.

"Hey guys," Frost said as he pulled out a seat and gestured for Maura to sit down before taking the final seat at the table.

God, not that too. Now Jane was going to have to watch her partner try to seal the deal with a woman she had already sealed the deal with several times over. It felt strangely incestuous and just generally weird.

"Doctor Isles, you know Vince and Jane," Frost said.

After Korsak shook Maura's hand, Jane did the same, as she would if they actually had just met this week. Maura looked confused.

"Yes, I know her quite well," Maura said. Korsak, who was sitting right next to Jane raised his eyebrows at Maura's comment. Frost looked from one woman to the other, way too interested in the exchange for Jane's liking.

"Because we talked. During autopsy and when she moved in," Jane said. Before Maura could add any more or correct Jane, or Korsak could make a smartass comment, Jane continued. "It's nice to see you again Mau-my friend Doctor Isles."

"It's great to see you too, my friend Detective Rizzoli," Maura said, beaming like a Christmas tree. It was as if she'd never been called someone's friend before, a thought that softened Jane's resolve to maintain her distance from Maura, if only a little bit.

"Yeah, super, so, um, I was just gonna go get another beer. Anyone want something?" Jane asked, desperate to get away from the conversation that she had managed to work herself into.

"Just water for me," Frost said, still grinning like he'd managed to actually win win a game of hallway hockey or something.

"I'm good," Korsak as he gestured to the bottle he had just started. At least he seemed to be acting like a normal human being.

"I'll come with you," Maura said, getting up from her seat, still smiling so brightly that Jane could not very well say no. "I want to see what kind of wine they carry."

Without another word, Jane moved towards the bar and Maura followed close behind. As they waited for Murray to notice them at the end of the bar, Maura decided it would be a good time to just skip the small talk altogether.

"Jane, I would like to talk about the state of our relationship," Maura said, as if she were a teacher giving Jane a homework assignment. "So that we might work efficiently and effectively as coworkers."

"Huh?"

"Our relationship history, Jane. We've successfully avoided talking about it for just over a week now," Maura said. "And I don't think it's wise that we continue that way. We had sex, Jane. We need to figure out a way to deal with that."

So, the moment had come, the one Jane knew would happen eventually where she was forced to speak directly about having sex with Maura. She'd managed to work around that conversation on the few ocassions where Maura had created an opening. Jane knew the question would come, she just hadn't expected it to happen when she was trying to unwind at the Dirty Robber.

"Um, whoa, ok. Well, yeah, we had sex. A lot," Jane said, pausing as really good memories came back to her. Even if those good memories put her in the uncomfortable conversation she found herself in, Jane still couldn't find it in herself to regret everything because there were parts of it that were so damn good, and that whole vacation was more fun than she'd had in a really long time.

Then she realized that her and Maura's references to lesbian sex had caught the attention of a nearby patron, so she turned her back to him and lowered her voice before continuing. "But I mean, as far as, I'm concerned, it was a vacation thing, you know?"

Maura, despite Jane's fear that the woman had developed an emotional attachment, looked relieved as Jane spoke.

"So we can have the strictly platonic relationship of two coworkers?"

"Yeah, that would be great. Hey, Murray," Jane said, waving over the bartender in another desperate attempt to save herself from another awkward conversation with her newfound friend. "Can I have a Sam Adams, a water, and, uh, you like red wine right, Maura?"

"Yes, please, your finest Pinot Noir," Maura said. Clearly the woman didn't realize that she would be lucky if the place had more than one type of Pinot Noir.

With the quickness and precision of a guy who'd tended bar for about twenty year, Murray set out the beer, filled a glass of water and retrieved a bottle of red wine from the fridge under the counter.

"That'll be four bucks for the beer," Murray said. He paused for a second as if trying to remember the price of the wine he had just poured. "And eight for the lady's wine."

"Really, for the glass?" Maura asked. Jane thought the tone of surprise came from the steep tab in comparison to Jane's beer. "That's a fantastic deal. How much for the bottle?"

"Hmm, uhh, thirty five bucks, I think," Murray said, obviously as surprised as Jane by Maura's reaction.

"I'll take it," Maura said.

* * *

Maura's night was going quite well by her estimation. She had cleared things up with Jane with relative ease, had apparently been accepted into a new group of friends, and had purchased an entire bottle of decent pinot noir for the price of one glass at some of the restaurants she'd visited with her parents.

"Uh, Maura, have you noticed Frost?" Jane asked as they carefully made their way back through the crowd.

"I have noticed his presence at the table," Maura said. "Though I came in with him, so I doubt that was what you meant."

"I mean, I think he likes you," Jane said, lowering her voice as they drew closer to the table. "I just don't know if it would be a good idea."

Maura had noticed potential signs of sexual interest from Detective Frost, but they had been so subtle, much more subtle than Jane's advances on the cruise, so Maura could not know with 100% certainty that Frost had been anything other than friendly.

"Why don't you want me to see him?" Maura asked as they reached the table. "Is it because he's African American?"

Jane pinched her eyes closed and opened them again as she place Frost's water on the table and sat down. Korsak and Frost in particular were looking at Jane, waiting for her response even though they likely did not know what they were talking about. Maura sat down in her seat, placing her bottle in front of her and taking another sip of her wine.

"No, Maura, that's not why," Jane said.

Maura could tell that her suggestion had made Jane tense. She should have known not to mention race. Despite its generally liberal reputation, Maura was aware that Massachusetts, like any other state, had its racial tensions.

"It's just, do you remember our first conversation," Jane said slowly, picking each word very carefully. "The very first time we met, do remember what I learned about your, um, your interests?"

"My interests?"

"Your type, Maura, the type of person you find yourself attracted to," Jane said, nodding to put emphasis as she said person.

Oh, so this was Jane's veiled attempt at saying that she though Maura would be uninterested in men without outing her to the table. Maura appreciated the sensitivity, as she knew that many people found discussions of sexuality to be unseemly and uncomfortable, especially in discussions of same sex attraction. Maura had no such issue.

"Oh, you're referring to my indication that I enjoy sex with women," Maura said calmly, choosing her own words very carefully because Jane clearly wanted to avoid discussing their tryst in front of others. "That is true. But I also occasionally enjoy the company of men."

"Really, I mean, wow. That's cool and everything doc," Detective Korsak said. "But, I mean, you don't look, you know, you don't really look the part."

"Because I'm feminine in appearance?" Maura asked.

"Well, um, yeah, I guess I was just sayin' if you told me one of the ladies at this table liked other ladies, I'd guess it was Jane, not you," Korsak said after taking a long sip of his beer.

Jane took the opportunity to punch the older man in the arm, though Korsak laughed it off. Frost, Maura noticed, remained a quiet, attentive, even amused spectator to the conversation.

"I suppose," Maura said as she poured herself a second glass of wine. "That is why stereotypes can be harmful and inaccurate. For example, I present as extremely feminine and I have stereotypical feminine interests, but I am often the more dominant one in the relationship."

Both Korsak and Frost seemed at a loss for what to say in response. Maura was actually quite amused by their fumbling attempts to respond. A large number of straight males had fantasies involving lesbianism and female bisexuality, but when confronted with the reality, many men couldn't handle Maura's straightforward, unapologetic expression of her sexuality.

Jane, who was just finishing her first bottle of beer, coughed violently and stared for a moment at Maura. Maura couldn't understand Jane's shock at having heard such information. They had, after all, been sexual partners. Jane knew that Maura liked to have control, as much as Jane had resisted giving up her own control.

Jane rested her face in her hands and groaned. She rose from the table quickly before Vince and Barry regained their composure enough to notice the curious exchange of looks between Jane and Maura.

"I'm gonna go get a few more beers," Jane said, walking away before Maura could get up to follow.

Maura watched Jane leave and turned around to face the two detectives. They looked very uncomfortable. Niether could look directly at Maura. Well, she had gone and done it again; Maura realized that she had said or done something to scare away potential new friends. She had only been trying to get to know them, to share something about herself, so that they would feel comfortable sharing with her. That was how social bonds were formed after all.

So Maura did the only thing that she had ever had any success with. She took another gulp of wine, then took the attention off of herself.

"Enough about me. Tell me something about you, detectives."

* * *

Maura was definitely well on her way to getting good and drunk. She was drinking the wine like it was water, claiming with increasing enthusiasm after each sip that it was a good, full bodied blend or something like that. Jane could not imagine getting that wasted drinking just one bottle of wine, but the doctor clearly was not use to drinking so fast. Jane, though she had a good buzz, was not drunk enough that she would have any significant repercussions in the morning.

Maura, on the other hand, was probably going to have a few drinking related regrets.

"Jane, I think I'm gonna go to the little ladies room," Maura said, smiling lazily as she got up slowly. "Would you like to join me?"

"Sure," Jane said, resisting a temptation to roll her eyes.

Jane had just returned from the bathroom five minutes before, but she wanted to keep an eye on the doctor, make sure none of the guys took advantage of her. Jane swore she could not have managed those heels sober, let alone while completely sloshed on red wine, so she also wanted to make sure Maura did not break both ankles trying to walk in them while drunk.

Maura moved rather smoothly, much more swiftly than Jane could ever hope to move in heels as they found their way to the small, two stall woman's room at the back corner of the bar.

Murray had just redone the bathrooms a few months before. It had been painted a deep green shade of paint reminiscent of the Green Monster and a few framed pictures of the Sox, Celtics and Bruins on the walls adjacent to and facing the door.

Jane leaned against the wall facing the sink and looked at one of the pictures, trying to figure out if it was of the '04 or '05 Sox. It should have been very easy, after all, she just needed to see if Pedro Martinez was in the picture, but there were a number of faces to scan and Maura interrupted her before she could look at all of them.

"Jane," she said, peeking her head out of the larger handicap stall that she had just entered. "Could you come here?"

"Sure thing," Jane muttered.

Well, at least if she had to clean up after drunk Maura, it would kill a little bit of the sexy. Maybe then Jane would not be so distracted by having had mindblowing sex with the hot new M.E.

Maura, however, seemed to need no help at all. She stood straight and appeared steady on her feet. Jane wondered what Maura had called her for in the first place. She didn't have to wait long to get her answer.

Maura managed to get an arm on either side of Jane as Jane leaned against the wall of the stall.

"Did you, know, Jane," Maura said, the hint of a sultry smile on her lips, "that Pinot Noir results in chemical reactions in my body that cause me to become very aroused?"

"Really? Red wine makes you horny?"

Jane could have gotten away from Maura with ease, but it would be a lie to say that Jane hated her current position. She just had to maintain control so that things did not go any further. Maura was not in any condition to make the decisions that she seemed ready to make.

Maura ran a finger lightly and slowly over Jane's skin, following Jane's jawline to her lips.

"You make me aroused as well," Maura continued, staring at Jane's lips. She leaned forward and lowered her voice so that Jane had to lean right next to Maura to hear. "I like to imagine that first night when I need a little…relief."

"Oh my God," Jane said, swallowing hard.

There was only so much one person could take before giving in. Who could say no to that? Better yet, why was Maura now trying to have a quickie in the bathroom in the same night that she had gleefully agreed to be just friends?

Alcohol. That was the only reason the otherwise logical, reasonable doctor would do something that could make things even more awkward at work.

"Let's just get you home," Jane said, gently removing Maura's hand from her cheek where it was resting. "I think you probably need to rest."

"No, Jane. I don't need rest," Maura said, grabbing Jane's wrist with surprising strength and swiftness for someone as drunk as she seemed. She smiled softly and continued. "I need relief. I'm sure I could do it myself, but I could really use some help relieving this tension. It would probably be very helpful to you as well."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? I can't do this," Jane groaned, stepping away from Maura so that she could think clearly. Maura was not making this easy. It would have been a hell of a lot easier in the short term to just let Maura have her way, but she couldn't let that happen.

"Is this some kind of warped nightmare fantasy or something?" Jane said as she leaned against the opposite wall and rubbed her face with both hands.

"Well I would hope that it would be a fantasy of yours," Maura said. Then, fortunately, she dropped her seductive voice and simply sounded like her inquisitive self. "You know, it just occurred to me that we never had sexual relations while both of us were standing up for the entire encounter. Of course, we almost did in the bathroom at the club. Then there was the shower, but I'm not sure if that technically counts because—

"Ok, no, no, no," Jane said, taking Maura's arm and opening the door of the stall before Maura could weaken her resolve any more than the booze and seduction had already.

"We are going to leave this bar right now before you say any of that shit in front of Frost or Korsak," Jane said. Before opening the door, a thought occurred to Jane and she turned to face Maura, putting a hand on either shoulder. "You do understand that we can't ever tell them about what happened on vacation, right?"

"You can count on me, Jane," Maura said, again adopting her best seductress voice as she reached up to fix the collar of Jane's shirt so that her fingers just barely brushed against the skin of Jane's neck.

"That sounds great," Jane said, getting increasingly annoyed with how damn difficult this woman was making things. "Just, um, try to be kinda, I don't know, normal. Ok?"

"What's normal?" Maura asked, sincerely curious about Jane's instructions. "There are varying standards of, um, what do you call it? Normalcy, that's it. You see, there is no standard of normalcy for all social interactions. Normal amongst peers can be very different from what is considered normal behavior with parents. Or priests."

This was going to be harder than Jane had thought. She again wondered how it was that Maura was so good at romantic and sexual things and so, just,  _unusual_  about regular, everyday social things.

"Just, we're going home, ok?" Jane said. "Just don't speak while we're out there. I'm going to get you to bed."

Jane immediately regretted her word choice and actually blushed at what Maura would probably at any moment call a Freudian slip.

"That is _not_  what I meant. I'm going to get you into a bed by yourself," Jane said. Maura continued to smile smugly. Jane cracked a small smile. "Oh, shut up. Let's get out of here."

 


	10. Acceptable Terms

Maura woke up the next morning feeling disoriented, confused and thirstier than normal. She was not the kind confused after an alcohol-induced blackout, but the type of confused that comes at waking up in a place different from one's own home.

Maura did not like the feeling; it had been one of a few reasons that she had never particularly cared for sleepovers as a child. Once she woke up enough to remember the events of the previous night and that she was sleeping alone in Jane's bed, Maura groaned out loud and rested her head on the pillow.

She had made a complete and utter fool of herself. That, right there, was the reason she hated social outings. Wine or not, Maura always found a way to make a fool of herself. The wine had just expedited the process a bit and exaggerated her foolishness significantly.

Maura sat up and took a long drink out of the water bottle that Jane had left for her on the night stand after insisting Maura sleep alone in the bed while Jane took the couch.

Maura wondered what she ought to do next. She could leave without waking Jane, though that would just make things even more awkward at work. She decided to wait until Jane woke up so that she could assess the extent of the damage from the previous night.

But Maura couldn't do much of anything involving analysis and assessment without first having a cup of coffee. Ever since she'd spent long hours studying and doing clinical rotations in medical school, Maura had made a morning cup of coffee one of her rituals. Even though Maura usually enjoyed brewing her own cup, she did not want to intrude in Jane's kitchen or take Jane's food.

So Maura decided, despite the fatigue and ache still lingering in her limbs and her horribly wrinkled work clothes, to venture out and get Jane some coffee. After all, coffee was the least Maura could do after her antics the previous evening.

* * *

Jane slept well considering she was on her sofa. Thanks to Maura's rapid alcohol consumption, Jane hadn't had the opportunity to drink all that much. The two beers had been just enough to give her a drowsy feeling that allowed her to fall quickly into a deep sleep instead of the fitful, shallow sleep had she drank too much.

So when she woke, Jane was in no rush to actually get up. She turned to lie on her back and rested her arm over her eyes. After a few minutes, Jane dropped her arm to the side so it hung off the sofa. As she slowly opened her eyes to bring the room into focus, she noticed someone sitting in the chair facing her.

Not fully conscious yet, Jane sat bolt upright and instinctively reached for the spot on her hip where she would normally keep her gun. When she realized that it was Maura sitting there serenely sipping a cup of coffee, Jane settled back in the cushions and tried to recover from the early morning adrenaline rush.

"What are you staring at me for?" Jane asked, a little more snappishly that she had meant to.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Maura said, looking away abruptly. "I wasn't staring. I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Ok….um," Jane said, looking around as she waited for Maura to continue. "Did you need something?"

"I bought coffee," Maura said gesturing to the large styrofoam cup on the coffee table in front of Jane. "It should still be warm. Plenty of sugar and a dash of cream, right?"

"Yeah," Jane said, reaching for the cup. She took a sip. Yup, it was just right, still warm and it tasted like the blend from her favorite place down at the corner. "Thanks. Can't really function without this stuff most mornings."

"Me neither," Maura said, a faint smile on her lips as she raised the cup to her lips.

Silence fell over the pair. Well, at least it wasn't the awkward silences that had plagued their relationship since Maura became the new ME. It wasn't comfortable or uncomfortable; it was just quiet.

"So, how you feeling this morning?" Jane asked. "You got pretty drunk last night."

"I've felt better, but also much worse. Particularly the last time I go the flu. That was a very strong strain," Maura said.

"So you remember it all," Jane said before Maura could distract her with all that science babble that seemed to come in occasional spurts. Jane didn't so much mind, she just wanted to keep Maura on track.

"Oh, yes, of course," Maura said, blushing furiously as she looked intently at the carpet. "I'm terribly sorry, Jane. I just don't know what I was thinking."

"Hey its ok, no big deal," Jane said. Even though she'd considered speaking with Maura about Maura's advances, the woman was clearly embarrassed and Jane didn't want to push the issue.

"No, it is. I am so sorry. I obviously was not thinking straight," Maura said, making forced eye contact with Jane.

"Clearly," Jane said, a smile playing on her lips.

Maura just blinked at her.

"Clearly what?"

"Clearly you weren't thinking straight," Jane said. She took another sip of coffee and watched as a look of mild annoyance shifted to a reluctant smirk.

"Well I suppose I deserve that for using a colloquialism that has the potential double enendre," Maura said, placing her coffee on the small end table by her left arm.

"See what is that thing you do?" Jane asked.

"What thing that I do?" Maura asked, cocking her head to the side.

"That thing, that thing where sometimes you talk normal," Jane said, making a vague motion with her free hand in Maura's general direction. "Then all the sudden get all, I don't know, google-y."

"Googley?" Maura said as she brought the cup to her lips. "I'm not sure that I understand."

"I mean, it's like, you start talking like a genius robot or something," Jane said, lifting her feet to rest them on the coffee table. Maura's eyes flited to her feet on the table as if it sincerely bothered her that Jane put her feet on the coffee table even if it was Jane's coffee table. Then she looked back up at Jane.

"Well, a robot can't technically be a genius," Maura said, wrapping both hands around her cup. "The standard IQ tests are created to measure certain complex thought processes that even the latest computer technology cannot mimic."

"See that's what I mean," Jane said, sitting up and pointing at Maura excitedly. "That thing where you say something that sounds really smart, but totally, like out of left field."

"I'm sorry," Maura said. "Does it bother you? If it bothers you I'll try to stop, though there's no guarantee."

"No, no, you know it doesn't bug me. I don't want you to," Jane said, getting up from her seat on the couch to kneel next to Maura.

The woman looked suddenly ready to cry, and Jane felt like a complete ass for doing that. Even though she'd only known Maura for two weeks, and one of those weeks had been the most awkward work week in recent memory, Jane felt a need to protect her. Despite Maura's sophistication and impressive brain, there where so many ways that she was adorably naïve and just a little bit vulnerable because of that. So, Jane needed to fix the damage that she had just done. Never mind that, Jane suddenly realized that she needed to fix all that she had done, the insecurity she'd apparently contributed to in the week that she'd so resolutely ignored Maura.

"It's all, the google stuff, it's very  _you_ ," Jane said, giving Maura's hand a comforting squeeze. She left her hand there despite the little jolt that the physical contact created.

"Are you certain?" Maura asked.

Maura made no effort to move her hand, instead moving her thumb to absently rub Jane's finger. It was distracting and made Jane want to move, but she also didn't want to break the moment that they were having. It felt like a breakthrough, like they were about to have a substantial, normal, not awkward or sex related conversation. No way was Jane going to undo that development.

"Yes, I'm sure," Jane said, nodding for emphasis.

"Because I know that I scare people off sometimes," Maura said. She glanced down at their hands and suddenly stopped stroking Jane's finger, moving her hand away a little bit, as if giving Jane permission to move her hand. "I think I've alienated some of the officers and detectives already."

"Screw those idiots. They're just a bunch of dumbasses," Jane said, getting to her feet and smiling broadly. "C'mon, cheer up. I'll show you around Boston, Rizzoli style."

"Really? I mean, you don't have any plans today?" Maura asked. Jane's plan was starting to work, because Maura's eyes brightened at the suggestion.

"Nope. Free as a bird. Now get up," Jane said, gesturing towards her bedroom. "We need to get you into some fresh clothes. I have a closet full of stuff that'll probably fit you right in there. Not fancy like the stuff you wear, but it'll do."

Maura all but bounced out of her chair in her hurry to get to Jane's room.

Jane plopped back on the sofa to give Maura some time and privacy to change into whatever she saw fit. Even if they had seen each other naked numerous times, Jane wanted to stay away from those particularly tempting situations. She waited a few minutes without hearing anything, so Jane, impatient as she tended to be, went to knock on the door.

"Maura, you still in there?" Jane yelled through the door.

Maura opened the door.

"We might have a problem, Jane," she said.

"What? What happened? Whatever it is, I'm sure we can fix it," Jane said, pushing her way into the room, which looked exactly as it had when Maura entered with the exception of the open closet door.

"It's nothing that I've done," Maura said crossing the room to the closet and taking out a particularly well worn purple v neck tshirt. "It's your clothes."

"What about my clothes?" Jane asked, a little defensively as she took the sample piece from Maura. "This is my favorite Tuesday shirt."

"That is part of the problem," Maura said, taking the shirt back and hanging it back up. "Your wardrobe is, um, could be improved with a bit of diversity."

"Diversity?"

"Yes, I mean, you look stunning in anything, of course, but, what I really meant was... What is with all the black blazers and v necks?"

Jane would have been incredibly pissed had it been, say, her mother delivering such fashion advice, but Maura did seem sincerely curious about Jane's 'work uniform' as Angela had once referred to it. Also, it was hard for Jane to get too mad at someone who had just basically call her gorgeous. Jane didn't get that a whole lot from people she associated with her job, unless it was from creepy perps or suspects and she didn't put too much stock in their compliments.

"I like 'em. They're comfortable, and I can wear 'em wherever," Jane said.

She rifled quickly through her closet and found a pant suit that she rarely wore and held it out to Maura.

"Here, this should work on you," Jane said.

Maura sighed and took the outfit to examine it before rehanging it to compare it to another, similar outfit.

"Thank you. I do appreciate you letting me wear your clothing," Maura said as she started to unbutton her shirt. "But I am going to take you shopping today. I want to spice up your wardrobe. Make it a bit more fashion forward."

"Seriously?" Jane said, though she knew that Maura was serious. She also knew that she would end up in some monstrosity of a dress by the end of the day, because apparently she just could not say no to this woman when she looked so damn happy and enthusiastic.

"Fine, but, I mean, just not today," Jane said. "You can make appointments or whatever you need to do to get into those fancy clothes stores."

Maura tried to pout at Jane, but Jane was having none of it.

"No, no," Jane insisted, as much to strengthen her own conviction as to convince Maura. "I am not wasting this beautiful weather inside trying on clothes. Tell you what, next Saturday we get off together, I'll be yours for the day."

Maura tilted her head to the side and pinched her lips together. After a moment of thought, she nodded.

"Those are acceptable terms," she said, turning back to the closet as she continued to unbutton her shirt. "Now I just have to find something that won't look exactly like everything else you wear."

Jane tried not to watch to closely as the last button of Maura's shirt fell open and she let it fall to the floor. However, when Maura went to take off her pants, Jane decided it was time to leave. She reached quickly past nearly naked Maura and end up brushing against the doctor's bare stomach. At that point, Jane just grabbed whatever she could get, which she later realized was her Wednesday shirt and Tuesday pants. She walked quickly for the door without risking a look back.

* * *

By the time Jane had completed her grand tour of Boston's finest sports bars with a few stops along the Freedom trail for Maura's benefit, Maura figured Jane would finish at some impressive landmark. After all, there was Quincy Market with its beautiful Ionic columns and the quintessential New England feel, a spot Maura had always enjoyed visiting as a child.

Instead, Jane led Maura towards the harbor. Maura was actually quite grateful at that point in their adventure that Jane had let her borrow comfortable shoes, even if they were a bit less stylish. The tour, which had been largely on foot, was stretching longer than Maura had expected. Even Maura had to admit that most of her shoes would not have been ideal for such a trip.

Not that Maura minded the length of the tour. It was a gorgeous day, in the mid seventies with a light breeze and only a few white fluffy clouds. Maura felt that cool breeze pick up as Jane approached what she promised would be her last stop before they ate.

"This," Jane said, gesturing to the scenery in front of her. "Is what they call the Harborwalk. Or at least part of it."

"I can't say I've ever been here before," Maura said as she took a step forward to stand next to Jane and look out at the water. She could see clearly as shipping vessels move slowly in and out of port. The spot had a charm to it even if it was clearly part of an urban landscape.

"Yeah, probably not as fancy as the yacht club, but I think it's sort of cool," Jane said. She stuck her hands in her pockets and looked straight ahead. "You know, I use to like coming here when I was a kid too. It looked different then though, not restored or anything."

"It's beautiful, Jane," Maura said.

Something about Jane's posture, or perhaps her nostalgic words, or maybe a combination of the two led Maura to believe that Jane had just shared something special, that somehow it left Jane a little bit vulnerable. Whether that had been Jane's intention, Maura could not tell, and she refused to guess.

Instead, Maura decided to provide a reassuring touch as she spoke. She reached out and gently touched Jane's arm. Jane turned to look at Maura, her lips turned up in the corners, arms folded over her chest. She let her arms fall by her side. For a split second Maura thought that Jane might make a move towards her, but before she could be certain, Jane just reached out to pat Maura on the shoulder before turning back to face the water.

"What do you say we get something to eat?" Jane asked. Maura was pleased to see a smile still on Jane's lips even if it was a bit different from the previous grin. "I'm absolutely famished."

"You appear to be in perfectly good health. I find it very difficult to believe that you are actually starving to death, which, by the way is the implication when you use the word 'famished,' Jane," Maura said.

She knew that Jane had intended to use the word for hyperbolic purposes, but Maura also liked to inform people of the precise definition of words, specifically words like famish, that many people used without a clear understanding of the definition.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not exactly wasting away or anything," Jane said as she smiled and shook her head. "But I am hungry, and I know a place right on the water 'bout a block away. We can get a great hot dog or burger there for real cheap."

 


	11. Flirty Vibes

Maura thoroughly enjoyed her Saturday out on the town with Jane. It seemed to have gone a long way towards easing the tension that so characterized the beginning of their work relationship too; it'd been as if Jane only needed some time to adjust, and the afternoon together had done the trick. For the entire week after their afternoon together, Maura saw Jane fairly often. Sometimes the visits weren't strictly necessary, but Jane came down anyway to discuss the case, and, on few occasions, things that weren't even related to the case.

It was odd, a radical shift from the strictly coworker relationship she'd cultivated with most of the detectives from both the San Francisco and Boston PD. What made it even stranger was the fact that she couldn't quite understand why Jane was doing it. It was a nice kind of strange, but very unusual nonetheless.

Maura wondered if perhaps that was what it felt like to actually have a good friend, if that was something she could look forward to now that she actually had a person who had, unprompted and without asking for monetary favors, called her a friend and treated her as such.

Of course, Maura understood that platonic friends don't generally enjoy each other's bodies as much as Jane and Maura did. But Maura also knew that Jane would not appreciate any further sexual advances and Maura had to acknowledge that it was for the best.

Still, she wondered if it was unreasonable or inappropriate for her to continue to pick up and, in return, give off flirty signals. Jane was obviously attracted to Maura and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, sent very strong signals on their stroll through the harborwalk. Prolonged eye contact and the occasional arm touches were among the more obvious signals, though there were other, more subtle hints and micro expressions that Maura had trained herself to pick up. Like what Jane might call a 'vibe.' The way that Jane responded to Maura and Maura responded to Jane felt a little more intimate, something a little more than friendly banter.

A perfect case in point regarding Jane's effort to befriend Maura and the flirty nature of their relationship happened a few days after their walk, in the middle of what looked like an open and shut case of domestic violence gone terribly wrong. Maura needed only to finish the autopsy of the woman to confirm that she had, in fact, died of two gunshot wounds to the neck and chest. While she might have called down or sent Detective Frost to check on the earlier in their working relationship, Jane had now taken it upon herself to wait in the morgue for the results.

As much as Maura appreciated the fact that Jane no longer avoided her as if Maura had developed a Hemorrhagic fever, she wasn't sure how she felt about Jane's presence that that particular moment. Jane was pacing off to the side of the autopsy in close enough proximity that she was dangerously close to hovering in Maura's personal space.

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way," Maura said. "But do you realize that pacing in and out of my line of sight is not going to move things along? Studies actually show that movement in the periphery can contribute to decreased efficiency in performing otherwise routine tasks."

"Yeah, but, I'm just," Jane said as she stopped pacing to lean against one of the nearby sinks. "Can't you just declare it now that you have the body open?"

"Not if I'm going to follow procedure," Maura said, only sparing a glance up at Jane as she continued her work. "And I do intend to follow all protocol."

"That is one thing that I've noticed about you," Jane said. Now she was moving to stand directly across the table from Maura. "You're very...meticulous. Thorough, with an incredible attention to detail."

Maura stopped what she was doing and looked directly at Jane.

Maura couldn't tell if that had been a reference to their time as sexual partners, or simply as a commentary on her skills as a medical examiner. With anyone else, Maura could have determined the motive based on vocal inflection and the two seconds of direct eye contact that they made. No such luck with Jane. Not only was Jane capable of an exceptional 'poker face,' but the naturally seductive timbre of Jane's voice and the elevated hormones levels clouded Maura's judgment.

"You've been watching me, detective?" Maura asked as she turned her attention back to the body, very intentionally making her voice sound as neutral and conversational as possible. "I was almost certain that, up to a few days ago, you were ignoring me."

"You're really hard to ignore," Jane said, with what Maura was now certain was a flirty undertone. There was no way of knowing if it had been intentional or unintentional, but it was most definitely there.

"Am I?" Maura replied, a smile pulling at her lips that she hid by bending even closer to the body.

"Yeah. And, you know, I'm really sorry about all that. I was, just, it's a weird situation, and I was kind of a wimp about it," Jane said.

"It's understandable and predictable to want to avoid potentially difficult or awkward conversations," Maura said. "It wasn't entirely pleasant for me, but, as a whole, an understandable reaction on your part."

"Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Jane asked.

"Yes, I guess it does," Maura said. "I believe your tour of the town went a long way towards achieving that."

"Yeah, that's good. I was kind of hoping so," Jane said. "And, um, Maura?"

Maura looked up at Jane, who had her arms folded across her chest as she looked directly at the body.

"It doesn't have to be a one time thing," Jane said as if it were difficult for her to say, like the words were somehow leaving her a little vulnerable. "The hanging out. I wouldn't mind it if we did something like that again sometime. Or, you know, made it a regular thing. Like the shopping. If you really want to take me shopping for the clothes. I, I'll do that. We can do that sometime if you want to."

"I'd love that," Maura said, grinning brightly at Jane.

Jane grinned back for a second before suddenly looking back down at the body, as if overcome by an uncharacteristic fit of shyness.

"Good, glad that's settled then," Jane said. "Hey, isn't that a bullet fragment?"

It was, in fact, a bullet fragment, a development that effectively ended their flirty bonding moment and moved it back to the investigation at hand. The fragment also kept Maura from thinking too much at length about that apology, the way it had developed, the way that it sounded almost like Jane asking Maura on a date when clearly the content of the conversation was aimed at developing a friendship.

Recalling the conversation in hindsight, a few days after the husband had been booked on murder charges and with only some extraneous paperwork to do, Maura couldn't help but notice how radically denotation and connotation differed in her conversations with Jane. How much the intended meaning was clouded, shifted, even distorted by the context of the conversation. Jane and Maura's relationship, even just that conversation within their relationship seemed worthy of a structuralist linguistic analysis. Maura wondered if there was such a thing, a structural linguistic/psychological case study.

Maura had just set aside her painfully dull paper work to search for such an article in one of Harvard's internet databases when she heard someone knock on the half open door. She looked up to see Jane standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Maura, you got a sec?"

Before Maura had a chance to say anything, Jane entered her office and made herself comfortable in one of the office chairs that the previous ME had left for visitors.

There was something so comfortable, so familiar and easy in the way that Jane sat there, as if she belonged in the office, as if that chair was hers. Maura thought perhaps it was her chair, that Jane always made a regular habit of visiting the ME's office when things were slow. Maura doubted that though, because, as good as Jane was at her job, she did not have a reputation as a people person around the precinct. She rarely socialized with officers and employees that were not or had not been her partner.

If one broadly applied the term 'partner', Maura had been Jane's partner for that week on vacation, so maybe that was the reason for this impromptu social call. But there were an awful lot of maybes floating around, and that did not set well with Maura.

"How can I help you?"

Jane shrugged and looked around the office, which Maura still had not finished putting together.

"I'm bored," Jane said. "You have an autopsy or something I could watch?"

"No, but you are welcome to sit here and watch me do paperwork," Maura said.

"C'mon, I mean, you must have something to do," Jane said, gesturing to the unopened boxes left in the corner of Maura's office. "What about them? You need some help sorting through, putting away your stuff? You don't really seem like the type to not unpack for months at a time."

Maura glanced over at the boxes. She had put off that particular task for some time, and the paperwork  _was_  primarily bureaucratic busywork. Besides, this was clearly an effort on Jane's part to either bond with Maura or hide out, because, based on the state of Jane's desk, the detective definitely  _was_  the type to leave boxes packed for months.

"I see no reason that I should put it off any longer, and I do have space left in my bookshelves," Maura said as she spun around in her chair to take a look at the half empty shelves set up behind and to the right of her desk.

Jane clapped her hands together once and got up from her chair to kneel in front of the largest box.

"Alrighty then, let's get started," Jane said.

* * *

Jane actually enjoyed her time unpacking Maura's books. She usually hated moving and packing things, so it wasn't a regular Six Flags adventure or anything, but the company was good. And it had given Jane the opportunity to just chill with Maura without it having to do in some way with sex, murder, alcohol or a combination of the three. Despite their unconventional start and awkward first week working together, Maura was one of the few people that Jane actually got along with at work, and being friendly with the M.E. might help to make Jane's life a little more pleasant. Maybe working on the friend thing would also help relieve some of the lingering tension from the sex thing.

They were halfway through Maura's, well, rather eclectic selection of books when Jane came across a very interesting selection that she could not help but comment on, despite the potentially awkward conversation it might inspire.

"Do you really think you need  _The History of Sexuality_  in your ME library?" Jane asked, holding up the slim volume for Maura to see.

"Yes, I do," Maura said. She placed a book on animal remains in its proper place on the shelf and turned back to Jane. "Sex is an incredibly powerful motivator. In order to be a competent medical examiner, I like to understand how such dynamics affect a person's life and death. Besides, understanding the development of societal discourse on sexuality helps in forming and informing my own social interactions."

"Ok, let's see what pearls of wisdom we have in here then," Jane said. She flipped open to a random page towards the beginning and happened upon a convoluted sentence that began with the phrase 'In short' and ended about half a page later after all sorts of philosophical jargon.

"That shit helps you get laid?" Jane said incredulously.

Maura narrowed her eyes and snatched the book away from Jane.

"My methods worked on you," Maura said, a mischievous smile on her lips.

And there was the very topic Jane feared might come up if she mentioned the book. She couldn't really blame anyone but herself for having set her own trap, walking into it and waiting until Maura sprung it.

Jane smiled and nearly laughed out loud at how proud Maura seemed at having made Jane speechless, even for a moment.

"Alright, fair enough. It can stay," Jane said, turning to kneel back down to take another stack of books from the box.

Maura knelt down too. Her pace seemed to slow gradually, and Jane noticed after a few minutes that Maura sifted aimlessly through her box, making no effort to get a stack together. The whole time, the usually efficient, precise woman had been taking her sweet time. Not that Jane minded; she had nothing else to do, but, from what Jane knew of the doctor, it seemed kind of out of character.

Jane managed to place the remaining contents of her box on the shelf in the time Maura had only managed to get through half of her own box. There were no more boxes to unpack, so Jane reached for a stack of books to help Maura out.

"Here, I'll help you with these," said Jane. She took about four or five books, and was about to stand up when Maura turned abruptly and spoke.

"Why do you like me?" Maura asked. "I mean, why do you want to be my friend?"

The way that Maura asked the question, more so than the question itself, broke Jane's heart. Maura asked as if she sincerely could not understand why someone would want to just hang out with her, like she didn't understand how she could be worth it. Jane had never expected to sense such insecurity in the normally composed, self-assured woman.

"Because," Jane said, stalling for time to answer the unexpected question. "Um, I don't know. You're a cool person."

"Jane, I may be intelligent, but I am not a  _cool_  person in any sense of the colloquial use of the word. Although my average body temperature is a bit low," Maura said matter of factly.

"I don't know. I can't really explain it," Jane said, and that was the God's honest truth. Jane could not understand, or at least could not put into words why she was making a special effort to befriend Maura. If she were to be completely honest with herself, it've been whole lot easier and less complicated had they just remained work aquaintances, but Jane, for some strange reason, didn't want that kind of distance from Maura.

"Like what you just said there. You're cool in a kind of different way. Not like anyone else. And we seem to get along well. Just kind of a good vibe, don't you think?"

Maura seemed to at least partially grasp Jane's convoluted explanation. She grinned like the time at the Robber when Jane had called Maura a friend, and Jane knew that she had said the right thing even if it sounded pretty lame and inarticulate.

"We do get along well, don't we?" Maura said.

"Yeah," Jane said.

Jane rested her stack of books in her lap and just looked at Maura. They really did have a good energy, vibe, whatever you want to call it. Chemistry. That's not what Jane wanted to call it, but that's what it was, plain and simple. Jane had crazy intense chemistry with the woman, and she knew that Maura picked up on it too, based on her responses to Jane and her own flirty behavior. Even that teasing, mischievous smile a few minutes before was something more than the teasing grin they had both treated it as.

It felt as though they could not help the flirty vibe, even in platonic situations. Yet, they had to help it. Jane could not be in a relationship or even have casual sex with a coworker. She'd seen it before and it had ended horribly for everyone involved; people had been reassigned, friends had been forced to take sides against coworkers. It'd been a mess, and Jane vowed she'd never, ever do something like that.

Besides, the fact that Maura and Jane were both woman, in a male dominated field no less, would have made them both subject of rumor, teasing, even ridicule from a few old school cops.

As hard as she would try to hide it, Jane knew that any sexual or romantic relationship with Maura would get out. Maura didn't need that harassment and Jane didn't need that distraction. She was at work to catch bad guys, not sleep with the hot ME, goddammit.

"Jane? Jane?"

"Yeah, yeah, you need help?" Jane asked.

"No, it appears we are all done," Maura said, standing to inspect her work. "Thank you so much for the help. It was definitely much more enjoyable this way."

There it was. That could have been said without connotation or innuendo. Maybe it had been said with that intention, but it sounded like something else entirely.

"Yeah, better than watching an autopsy," Jane said. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head, and when she did, Jane noticed it was already almost 6 pm. "I'm exhausted. I think I'll hit the road now."

"Alright. I should finish signing off on some paperwork anyway," Maura said, then added hopefully, "but I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely," Jane said, grinning at Maura to reassure the doctor that she was sincere. "See you then. I'll be looking forward to it."


	12. Ego Boost

Maura had minimal experience with close friendships before her relationship with Jane, but, by all estimations, things seemed to be going smoothly. Despite the mutual sexual attraction that they both seemed to recognize without acknowledging, Jane and Maura had managed to maintain a safe distance and enjoyed non-romantic, nonsexual time together in the few weeks since they had become more than work aquaintances.

For example, Maura had finally achieved her goal of getting Jane into a high end clothing store, one of the most sought after in Boston. She just knew the clothes would fit Jane perfectly. After some hesitation, a minor guilt trip, and a gentle reminder of her promise to let Maura take her clothes shopping, Jane relented and allowed Maura to take her along.

As a treat to Jane for welcoming Maura into her little group of friends, Maura had decided to treat her to a visit to one of the finest couture boutiques that Boston had to offer. So, after getting Jane out of bed and into some marginally acceptable clothes, Maura drove Jane to her 10am appointment at Arianna's, the place to go for fashion forward clothes. It was one of Maura's favorites, both for its selection and for Millie, the fashion consultant that Maura had requested. Millie was honest without being unkind, just the kind of touch she thought Jane needed.

When they arrived at the store just before 10, Millie was at the front desk waiting.

"Hello," the woman said as she approached Maura and kissed her on each cheek. "I've been looking forward to seeing you Maura. It's been such a long time!"

"I know, far too long," Maura said. "But this appointment is not for me."

"No? Who for then?" Millie asked.

The question seemed odd, given the fact that Maura assumed Jane was at her shoulder. When she turned around though, Maura saw that Jane had made herself scarce as she wandered through the floor samples. She looked alternatively bewildered and shocked as she looked at one particular item, then its price tag.

"Oh, she's over there. Jane, come here," Maura called. When Jane approached, she stuck out her hand for Millie.

"Hi, Jane Rizzoli, nice to meet you," Jane said before stuffing her hands into her pockets and looking around.

"Well, it's nice to meet any friend of Maura's. Now let me take a look at you," Millie said. She took a step back and Jane straightened her posture, as Maura had suggested in the car.

"You certainly have the figure and build for some of our finer pieces and your features are absolutely stunning. We just need to work on accentuation rather than hiding those qualities," Millie said. "Come with me."

Jane and Maura followed the thin blonde woman up the stairs towards the VIP dressing rooms.

"Maura," Jane whispered as they followed a few feet behind Millie. "This place is way too expensive. There was a shirt, a plaid shirt down there for $580. Almost 600 bucks, Maura! For plaid!"

"Shh," Maura whispered back. "I know what shirt you're talking about and that is the standard price for such a well-known designer. And this is going to be my treat."

"Maura, I don't care if it's designed by the queen and made with gold," Jane said. "That's too expensive."

Before Maura could answer, Millie slowed to a stop and unlocked the door to one of the dressing rooms.

"Here we are," the fashion lady said as she gestured around the room. "Make yourself comfortable, and I will go find a few pieces for Jane to start with so we can get a feel for what works best."

* * *

When the door clicked shut, Jane said the only thing that came to mind.

"Holy shit," she said as she looked around the room. "This place must be wicked expensive. It's too much Maura. Really, honest and truly. This isn't just something I'm saying."

The place was probably bigger than Jane's first studio apartment, with light, airy shades of blue and white, high ceilings, and a few expensive looking abstract paintings along the walls. Then there was the luxurious white sofa situated in the middle of the room, the same sofa that Maura had settled into as if there was nothing special or interesting about this particular room.

" I know that you're not 'just saying.' Just, please don't worry about that today," Maura said. "I want to treat a good friend to some fine clothes. It makes me happy, especially when I know that you will wear it so well."

"Geez, you and that lady are really trying to pump up my ego today, huh?" Jane said as she settled onto the sofa next to Maura.

"It's all true, Jane," Maura said, as she scooted a little closer to Jane and rested her arm on the sofa behind Jane, a casual, almost unconscious gesture as she settled into the sofa cushions. "You are a beautiful person. I wish you would believe me."

Maura was not even touching Jane now, but she might as well have been stroking Jane's leg or kissing Jane's neck or something equally intimate, because that look, just that look. God that look was enough to make Jane forget why it was that they hadn't picked up where they left off after vacation. But now there was something more intense in the look that Maura was giving Jane; it was lust, for sure, but what else? What was that? Adoration? Affection?

"I'm back," Millie said, busting right on in without knocking or looking up. Jane tried her hardest not to scowl at the woman for interrupting. She wasn't sure what that moment had been, but whatever it was, Jane had been enjoying it. "Oh, I'm sorry to have barged in like that."

So apparently Jane had not succeeded in suppressing her glare.

"Oh, its no problem at all," Maura said, glancing at Jane before sitting up and putting both hands in her lap. "What do we have here?"

Jane watched as Maura oohhed and ahhed over the dresses and pantsuits that the woman had brought in. Jane dreaded the day ahead if that impressive collection of outfits was just her starter set. She had promised this to Maura though, and Maura had been going to a number of events that probably weren't her cup of tea at Jane's request. Besides, they'd become friends, close friends, and Jane knew that sometimes you do things for a friend that you would never, ever to do otherwise.

So Jane tried on one outfit. And then another. And another. A few of the outfits, both Millie and Maura agreed were not flattering on Jane's figure, and they disagreed on one or two more. But the majority drew rave reviews, as Millie kept remarking on how Jane's body had been made for couture. Honestly, Jane could have found worst ways to spend her Saturday than being told repeatedly by a fashion expert that she looked good in nice clothes.

Despite the ego boost, the trying on clothes thing was becoming rather tiresome after about two hours or so. Millie, bless her fashionable little heart, seemed to pick up on that and promised that she would only bring in one more piece for Jane to try on, a dress that she was just dying to see on Jane.

As the woman returned to the floor to get the dress, Maura looked through the few items that Jane had approved for purchase.

"How are we doing over here?" Jane asked as she held the robe provided by the store tightly around her body. That plush white robe was actually the most comfortable thing that Jane had tried on all day.

"Fantastic," Maura said, grinning as she ran her fingers over a gray shirt that Jane had just reluctantly agreed to. It was a bit dressy for Jane's taste, but Maura had insisted on it. "I'm really glad that you chose this piece. The stitching is impeccable."

"I do hear that gray is the new black," Jane said with what she knew was a poorly executed British accent.

"Really? Where?" Maura asked sincerely.

She had obviously only been half listening as she continued examining the stitching on the shirt. When Maura glanced up from the shirt to see Jane's reaction to the question she didn't seem hurt or put off by the fact that Jane looked ready break into a broad smile at the misunderstanding, as Jane had feared.

"Oh, I see," Maura said, turning around so that she was facing Jane. Jane had been leaning in, taking pretend interest in the stitching that she knew nothing about, so they now found themselves in uncomfortable proximity. "Are you teasing me, detective?"

"You're getting better, doctor," Jane said.

Jane pulled at the sleeve of her robe, but kept eye contact with Maura. She couldn't not look at Maura, they were standing that close, and for some reason, neither had seen fit to move. If anything, Maura leaned a tiny bit closer, her eyes flicking down to Jane's lips, then back up to her face. Jane would have kissed Maura right then and there, had they been in the privacy of one of their own homes, she really thought she would have. But they were in a very public, very fancy place with a fashionista lady who didn't know how to knock.

And thank God Jane resisted, because Millie barged in for the third time that day not a half a minute later. Jane did have to admit though, that the dress she had chosen was actually really nice.

"I know Maura said that you don't like dresses, but everyone needs an LBD and this is going to be just perfect for you," Millie said as she hung the dress on the only empty hook. She smoothed her hand over the dress as if there were some kind of imaginary wrinkles of something and stepped back. "Go ahead. Give us one last show."

* * *

Jane took the dress and disappeared behind the partition set up for changing. Maura leaned against the wall facing Jane and folded her arms, while Millie did the same. Although the partition was completely opaque, Maura's gaze stayed locked on the spot. Millie laughed under her breath.

"The anticipation killing you, or what?" she asked, turning to face Maura.

"Hmm, yes, she, I mean, it's beautiful," Maura said, glancing at Millie then back in Jane's general direction. She felt distinctly uncomfortable at the fact that Millie likely noticed her slip if the subtle, knowing smile was any indication. "It's not literally killing me of course, although I understand your implication. What is it? A McQueen?"

"Very good eye, Ms. Isles," Millie said, genuinely impressed at Maura's power of observation when it came to the latest in high fashion.

"I'm ready," Jane said. "Not sure how it looks. So, I mean, just be honest, ok?"

Jane emerged a second later. She walked tentatively at first, as if unsure of how to move in such a dress, but when Jane caught sight of herself in the mirror, her posture changed. Maura noticed that Jane moved towards the mirror with her usual confidence and even did a little twirl for their benefit without Millie having to ask.

Maura could understand entirely why Jane would appear so confident in the piece. The black v-neck dress fit her as if the designer himself had sewn it specifically for Jane. It accentuated all the right places without being too obvious or revealing. On Jane, the dress struck a perfect balance between showing off the body and leaving some mystery.

Maura moved from her spot against the wall and walked slowly towards Jane, who now stood in front of the three way. She stood behind Jane and put her hands on Jane's hips under the pretense of examining the fit. She felt Jane tense at her touch, but Maura remained in place, intent on offering an explanation of the piece.

She couldn't not touch Jane at the moment. It was all Maura could do to keep from having her way with Jane right then and there. But even Maura knew that doing that would have been very inconsiderate of Millie's feelings.

"The fit works very well for you. See this here," Maura said, smoothing her hands over Jane's hips. "It shows your shape where off the rack or a less fitted dresses might not."

Maura then moved around to take in the dress from the front. She ran her fingers over the v neck and looked directly at Jane to gauge her response. Jane looked right back and bit her lip while Maura moved her fingers towards the point of the v-neck.

"And this element, this element here," Maura said, putting every last bit of focus on maintaining her train of thought as she noticed Jane's breath hitch. "It draws attention to your toned midsection while providing some lift for your breasts."

Maura daren't use her hands to demonstrate the lift that the dress structure provided, for fear that she might overstep some invisible line in her thinly veiled attempt to put her hands on Jane's body.

"Ok, then," Millie said brightly. "So you're thinking that's a keeper?"

"Definitely," Maura said, removing her hands from Jane as if she had been burned. She had almost forgotten that Millie was still in the room.

"Super," Millie said. "I'm just going to go ahead and return these no go outfits to the rack and let you two decide on the maybes. And, please, take your time. I have a 12:30 that I have to make a quick call anyway."

Before Maura could say anything more in response, Millie was out the door with a handful of outfits.

"Great, so, I'm just gonna go get this thing off before I damage it or something," Jane said as she moved quickly away from Maura and disappeared behind the screen.

Maura made herself comfortable on the sofa and contemplated a shirt that she and Jane had vastly different opinions on.

"Holy shit!" Jane said from behind the partition. "Maura you are absolutely not buying me this dress. Were you even going to tell me that this thing is over two grand?"

"I told you not to worry about the price tag, Jane," Maura said calmly. "Besides that's a good price for a McQueen, and it's not often that one can find a dress that fits so well without tailoring."

"This is like friggin' robbery Maura. I should be arresting that woman, not letting her take almost two and a half grand of you money," Jane grumbled as she emerged from the behind the curtain, fully dressed in her casual blue shirt blazer combo.

Maura grinned at Jane's hyperbole. It was such a different attitude than the one she grew up with. In Maura's world as a child and teen, spending thousands on one shopping trip was not only acceptable, but expected. She had never known anything different, so Jane's pragmatic view of spending was something that Maura found refreshing, if a bit puzzling.

"But, I really do want to buy you that dress, Jane. Please, I am asking you to let me buy you a nice dress," Maura said. When Jane folded her arms in an indication that she was going to stick to her convictions, Maura decided to change her approach. "Alright, what if you give me a spending limit, and I will work within those parameters."

"How about three hundred bucks?" Jane asked.

"I can't purchase more than a tank top for that price," Maura said. "What about $3000?"

"Seriously? A tank's suppose to be like ten bucks," Jane said. "And three grand is way too much, Maura."

"Please?" Maura said. She was going to need more than reason to persuade Jane, who, she was quickly learning, was a very tactile person. She stood up and placed a hand on Jane's arm. Maura ran her hand down the side of Jane's arm until their fingers brushed. "You look absolutely ravishing in that dress."

Jane rocked back on her heels, then leaned forward again as she bit her lower lip, all while maintaining steady eye contact. She broke eye contact and sighed.

"Fine. fifteen hundred and that's my final offer," Jane said.

She still would not be able to buy the dress at that price, but Maura suddenly thought up a brilliant plan that would involve some tricky subterfuge on her part. It was definitely doable though.

"You have yourself a deal, detective," Maura said. "I'll be right back, I just have to see Millie about getting a price adjustment."

Jane looked skeptical, as if this agreement was just too easy. Maura was a strong willed person and would normally have done whatever she wanted without Jane's permission, and Jane knew that from her experience trying to get Maura to hurry autopsies. That Maura was giving in so easily clearly had Jane a little bit concerned. Maura just smiled offered a little wave and disappeared from the dressing room.

* * *

Jane paced back and forth in the airy room, counting her footsteps as she crossed to the far wall and back. She stood close to one of the weirder looking paintings and squinted to try to make some sense of it. It looked maybe like a light blue dog if you squinted your eyes and tilted your head to the side just at the right angle. Nope, now it looked like a malformed dinosaur.

All of these strange thoughts and inane observation just to keep from imagining Maura and that cute little excited smile at the prospect of buying that stupid dress. It wasn't actually a stupid dress; it was really nice, just way too expensive. Jane didn't think she could spend that much on clothes in an entire year, let alone on one shopping trip on one dress.

It was cute though, that Maura wanted so badly to buy the damn thing. Cute? Cute was definitely a new thing with Maura; she'd always been sexy, but only very recently, after spending a good deal of time with the doctor outside of work, had Jane taken to thinking Maura was cute. She couldn't tell if that was a good or bad sign, but it was definitely something new.

Speaking of something new, Maura was getting awfully handsy lately. Maura had always been affectionate, but the extra touching was a new habit that Maura appeared to be developing. Jane guessed Maura might have picked it up from Jane, who was very tactile with people she cared about. And she cared about Maura, strictly as one of her only close female friends, of course. So the subconscious touching had become a regular thing with Jane when talking to or hanging out with Maura. Never anything over the line or overtly sexual, but, still, Jane had to admit that it was there, and now Maura was picking up the habit big time.

Maura was apparently dead set on showing off what she would call her 'learned behavior.' Every outfit, or at least every outfit Maura liked, Maura had to touch Jane at least once to show how well it fit. As for the dress, well, Maura had practically groped Jane. And Jane gladly let the groping happen. They were just asking for trouble, Jane thought, she and Maura were just tempting themselves and each other for the hell of it. And because it felt good. But also because they were likely both mildly masochistic...in a non-sexual way, of course.

Before Jane could get too far into reminding herself of all the reasons not sleep with Maura, Maura returned looking downright giddy with Millie following behind her. Millie smiled and winked. Oh Jesus, what had Maura done?

"Millie has done something wonderful," Maura said. "She has decided to sell the dress at cost and the rest of the clothes at the employee discount rate. It will come in just under your budget."

"Oh, um, gee, thanks," Jane said. She stuck out her hand to shake Millie's, but Millie pulled Jane into a hug before Jane could avoid it. Jane started to wonder if Maura had told the lady that she was dying or something.

"Anytime," Millie said. "A partner of Maura's is a friend of ours, especially one that cares enough to indulge her passion for fashion."

Maura moved closer to Jane and took her hand all the while looking directly at Millie and smiling. She gave it a light squeeze.

"Oh, oh, yeah," Jane said. "We're um, we're great partners. Although, I mean, she's obviously going to make it worth my while when we get home."

Millie raised her eyebrows and Jane felt Maura squeeze her hand a little tighter.

"Well, I'll just go and get you ringed up then," Millie said. She took the dress, three shirts and three pants off of their hanger and left the room.

"Really?" Jane said as she turned to Maura.

Maura grinned and shrugged.

"Start thinking about what I can do to repay you," she said before following Millie out the door.

 


	13. Insightful Commentary

Jane strode across the park towards the crime scene where the techs were already starting to process the scene. She grumbled to herself about the asshole, no name beat cop who had made her park her car so far away. The guy didn't realize that he was wasting precious time in the first 48. Besides, the weather was raw and dreary, and it seemed that this weather always made her hands ache, which would in turn bring back memories of Hoyt. So, needless to say, Jane was in no mood to talk about anything outside of the case at hand.

"Hey, Rizzoli," one of the techs nodded as Jane walked by. She nodded back to him because she actually didn't mind the guy.

"What've we got here?" Jane asked Korsak, who was crouched over the body.

Korsak looked up to see Jane for the first time and raised his eyebrows.

"Did we call you away from a date or something?" Korsak asked.

"No, why?"

"Nothing, just not use to seeing you all dressed up at crime scenes is all," Korsak said. He gestured to the shirt Jane was wearing, part one of the more casual outfits Maura bought Jane. "Is it new?"

"Yeah, it was a gift," Jane said crossing her arms over her chest. "Now can you please tell me what we've got, or am I going to have to wait until Frost is done puking in the bushes?"

"Not much," Korsak said as he stood up and gestured to the body. "Found a license on him, says him name is Joe Asimov. About four or five deep stab wounds and a few superficial defensive wounds on his hands. This section of town is well known to vice, so we're thinking possible drug connection. Patrol's out looking for witnesses in the neighborhood."

"M'kay, let's take a look," Jane said as she bent down to get a closer look at the body. She took gloves out and pulled them on to take a closer look at the vics hands. She had found that sometimes you could tell whether the perp was a lefty or righty based on defensive wounds.

"Who gave 'em to you?" Korsak asked as he bent down so that he was level with Jane.

"Huh?" Jane asked, looking up while still holding the dead man's hand.

"The clothes. You said they were a gift," Korsak said. "Who gave you the clothes?"

"I don't know when you became such a fashionista," Jane said as she went back to examining the body. "And if you really must know, Maura got the outfit for me. She spent a frigging fortune, and I feel guilty, so I'm wearing it, alright?"

Korsak shrugged and looked down at the body as Jane continued her examination.

"Speaking of which, here she is," Korsak said, waving the ME over to the body.

"Hello," Maura said as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "I'm sorry that it took so long."

"Yeah, no big, I just got here too," Jane said as she stood up from the body. "We have a Caucasian male, late twenties, id'ed as a Joe Asimov. Stabbed to death."

"The apparent cause of death, you mean?" Maura corrected.

"Maura, look at the guy. He's lying in a pool of his own blood with some seriously deep stab wounds. What do you think, he died of smoke inhalation or something?"

"It's unlikely, but I can't rule anything out until I perform the autopsy," Maura said as she crouched down next to the body to examine the stab wounds to his chest and stomach.

"Really, Maura?" Jane whined.

"Yes, really," Maura said, looking up from the corpse, and at Jane for the first time since arriving. She smiled brightly when she saw that Jane was wearing the white v neck top and black pants. "You're wearing one of the outfits I bought you!"

"You mean there's more than one of these?" Korsak interjected, glancing in Jane's direction.

"Oh, yes, I got her a beautiful McQueen dress," Maura said, still looking at Jane as she rose. "It looks stunning on her. I just had to buy it."

During the entire exchange, Korsak looked on as if he were not a part of the conversation. Normal people would have responded to Korsak by looking at Korsak while speaking to him. Not Maura. Nope, the ME managed to glance at Korsak only for the few seconds that he was speaking. As smart as she was, and Maura was wicked smart, Jane thought the woman could use a remedial course on subtlety and not flirting with friends while at work. Jane could not imagine she was that irresistible.

"M'kay, well now that that's all cleared up, I would really like to find the guy who killed this kid," Jane said as she flexed her hands to keep the dull ache in her palms from settling too long in one place.

"You mean man or woman," Maura said.

"What?" Jane asked.

"If this is in fact a murder, as it appears to be," Maura said. "The murderer could be male or female. Your use of the word guy eliminated females as potential suspects."

"Maura, you know that these types of murders in these locations are almost always guys, and I swear, if this isn't a murder, I will quit BPD and become a supermodel," Jane said.

"There's no need to go to such extremes to prove your point, Jane," Maura said. "Besides, you don't have the posture to walk the runway."

"But I'm sure I have the stunning good looks, right?" Jane quipped, cracking a small smile as she bent down to take another look at the corpse. As much as Maura's quirks drove Jane crazy, the ME had this really...unique way about her that never failed to get Jane to crack a smile at least once in a conversation despite any shitty circumstance.

"Yes, you do indeed have the looks," Maura said, as she too bent over so that she was eye level with Jane. Jane looked up from the body at Maura only to realized that, yet again, Maura was giving this sexy little half smile as she made direct eye contact. "And you can be quite charismatic and charming when you need to be."

"Yeah, but she's only charming when she wants something," Frost suddenly chimed in, apparently having wandered over at some point during their exchange.

Both Jane and Maura looked up at the pair. Korsak stood there with his hands in his pocket, and Frost, despite the fact that he had just emptied the contents of his stomach into a nearby bush, was smiling as he looked from Jane to Maura and back again.

Jane looked pointedly from one man to the other, but wasn't able to get much of a response. Frost appeared to be developing a resistance to Jane's best death glare and Jane wasn't happy about it.

"Maura, do you think you could go get the paperwork going to get this guy into autopsy?" Jane asked. "Its suppose to rain later, and we don't want to ruin the evidence."

Maura nodded, oblivious to the looks between Jane, her partner and ex-partner since Jane had turned to face her partner. Maura did, however, sound a bit confused by the sudden change of subject.

"I'll have Susie get the paperwork," Maura said slowly, as if distracted by some other, far more important thought. "We can have him in autopsy in a few hours if I get the papers started."

After Maura walked away, Korsak looked ready to speak. Jane, however, had an idea of what he was going to say, and she did not want him to start in on the whole Jane likes a lady thing, not if it involved Maura. She especially didn't want to hear it after the flirting and fake romancing to get clothes at a steep discount had left Jane wondering if Maura actually believed that platonic friends acted that way on a regular basis. Jane knew that Korsak's ribbing would be good natured, but Jane just couldn't deal with it at the moment.

"Not a word," Jane said as she got up, punctuating each syllable.

"I wasn't gonna say a thing," Korsak said, then he patted Jane on the shoulder and wandered towards one of the techs.

"But she is a good looking lady," Frost added.

Before Jane could respond, he hurried off in the direction of a beat cop who had just arrived as back up. Jane turned back around and looked at the body. She rested both hands on her hips and sighed. This thing with Maura was a turning into something more complicated than she could have ever expected.

* * *

 

Maura had only known Jane for a few months, but she and Jane had developed a close relationship rather quickly. Maura often wondered if that had something to do with their earlier sexual connection, but she tried not to dwell on it. Maura had other things on her mind; Jane was bothered by something.

As they worked, Jane acted gruffer than usual; Maura had grown accustomed to Jane's 'tough guy' attitude, but this was something more than that. Maura understood Jane well enough to know that much, but her power of observation ended right around there. She needed to determine the root of Jane's apparent moodiness, and Jane's single-minded focus on her work was proving quite an obstacle in even coming close to the subject during their conversation. Jane appeared to be making a conscious effort to focus intensely on the case at hand to the exclusion of everything else.

So Maura decided to embark on an investigation not unlike the kind of investigation that Jane was in the midst of performing for the Asimov case. Having performed the autopsy, Maura was essentially on call, so she had some extra time between the handful of natural cause autopsies to perform her investigation. She decided to start with Jane's fellow officers, although she decided that going to Frost or Korsak might tip Jane off and needlessly upset her friend.

As she was working through that particular bump in the road, Detective Crowe came by to pick up an autopsy report. Maura, against her best instinct, decided to ask him since he and Jane had worked together for years. It certainly wasn't ideal, but sometimes even Jane needed to interview a shady character to get crucial information on a puzzling case.

"So, let me get this straight," Crowe said as he leaned in the doorway of Maura's office. "You wanna know why Rizzoli's being especially bitchy?"

"Not bitchy," Maura said. She found the word distasteful and inaccurate. "A bit unhappier than usual."

"Rizzoli is never really happy," Crowe said as he absently fiddled with his pen. "And as for her general bitchiness, she doesn't really need a reason. Seems to come so natural for her."

"Oh," Maura said. "Well that's, um—

"You want to know what I think?" Crowe asked as he leaned forward in his chair, then added before Maura had a chance to say she did not particularly care to hear his opinion. "I think she just needs to get laid."

"Do you?" Maura said. She left her answer short to keep from having to tell him that she knew for a fact that Jane had been laid in the past three months.

"Yeah, you think you could maybe work on that for us," Crowe said. He looked Maura up and down before speaking again. "I mean you two do get along awfully well. Aren't chicks like one too many shots from going gay anyway?"

"I believe that is only in mainstream pornography," Maura said. "Although sexual fluidity in the human species is far more common than previously believed."

The more she spoke with Crowe the less she liked him, and Maura really tried not to hate people. So the 'google-speak,' as Jane called it, would work in this case as a tool to end an increasingly awkward and frustrating conversation.

"Thank you so much though for that insightful commentary," Maura said. "I have to go now though."

As much as it had been insightful commentary from Crowe, it was more insightful with regard to Crowe's rather unsavory, crass personality than with regard to Jane's current attitude shift. She would just have to talk to those closer to Jane. It was off to find Detective Frost.

Jane hated that she hated so many people. It wasn't really the kind of hate that made her wish they would fall in front of an oncoming train or get shot in the leg and bleed out slowly; Hoyt was the only person she hated that much. No, hate probably wasn't the right word, more like extreme impatience with anyone trying to have any kind of extended conversation with her while on the job. Jane wanted to stay completely focused on her work, and unnecessary socialization at work just tended to annoy her these days. Jane needed focus at the moment more than she cared to admit.

There were a lot of things that Jane didn't care to admit to herself and others these days. But work helped to fix those problems, or at least ignore the problems. So when she learnt from Crowe, of all people, that Maura was asking about her feelings and Crowe suggested, pig that he was, that she might benefit from getting laid a little more often, Jane was furious. She didn't need to think about her feelings, so Maura sure as hell shouldn't be concerned about them either. And the doctor definitely had no reason to think that Crowe would be of any help.

"Maura, what were you thinking?" Jane snapped as strode into the morgue.

Maura looked up from a dull looking textbook on fossilized remains.

"I've thought a remarkable number of things. You are going to have to contextualize the question," Maura said as she closed the book and looked calmly at Jane. Jane wondered if Maura did that on purpose, completely missing the point so that Jane had to explain everything step by step.

"Talking to Crowe of all people, you know," Jane said.

"I was concerned about your well being," Maura protested.

"Well, then don't go to the biggest asshole in the Boston Police Department. Ask me," Jane said.

"I've made attempts to ask, but lately you haven't been open to much conversation that doesn't have to do with work," Maura said in even, measured tone, a very reasonable voice that made it difficult to be angry with her. "Or was I mistaken? Are you willing to answer questions about your emotional well being?"

Jane had to give Maura credit for reading her like a book, like a really easy book with pictures and everything. Didn't mean she had to like it.

"Yes, I dunno, no, I guess not. But c'mon, I mean, Crowe? Seriously," Jane said. "You know him, what a creep he can be. You know he suggested you and I have sex while we're at it."

"He made the same suggestion to me," Maura said. "And although it was crassly worded, he is quite perceptive based on our past sexual history."

"Are you serious?" Jane asked, and when it was clear that Maura was, Jane added. "He wasn't being perceptive, Maura! God, I mean, he was just using his eyes, for christssake!. I, you, he, you know you have got to stop with looking at me the way you do. I mean, I have to stop too, but you really need to stop."

In all of her stuttering, mumbling, and starts and stops, Jane had finally found something to latch on to, a concrete reason to be pissed, or frustrated at the very least. Now she was going to have to stick with it.

"Which look?"

"The one that says that you've seen me naked," Jane said. "It's pretty obvious, and I know Frost sees it too. I already have the lesbian rumors without dealing with that shit too."

"Is that so?" Maura asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Yeah," Jane said.

"Well, Jane," Maura said with an edge to her voice. "First of all, it is not an I saw you naked look."

"No? What is it then?" Jane responded.

"It is an 'I gave you multiple orgasms and thoroughly enjoyed it' look," Maura said. "And second of all, sometimes those lesbian rumors that you are so concerned about, however crudely articulated, have a basis in truth."

Jane was at a loss for what to say. Maura sometimes acted so clueless, then other times demonstrated an awareness and sharpness that Jane did not expect out of her at all. This conversation was proving to be a demonstration of the latter.

"Are you for real?" Jane asked.

"Well, I'm no cyborg," Maura said coolly as she rose from her seat. "I have an autopsy coming in soon, and you have a murder to investigate. Don't you, detective?"

Maura had never called Jane 'detective' before, not in the serious, professional tone she was speaking in now. To hear her use it in so cold and professional a way gave Jane another, entirely different moment of speechlessness. Jane was hurt, and though Jane knew that she deserved the cool treatment, it struck her all at once that she had been a royal bitch to the one person besides her mom who had cared enough to want to find out what was wrong. Maura went about finding out in a pretty ridiculous way, but Jane knew that Maura meant well, that she always meant to do right by Jane, to help her through a rough time. And Jane had gotten irrationally pissed off as a defense mechanism to keep her pain from both Maura and herself.

"Yeah, I should get going I guess," Jane said.

Jane nodded, got up, and left the room.


	14. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N-Minor trigger warning: this chapter has characters discussing Jane's encounter with Hoyt, nothing too graphic, but I'd rather be safe than trigger-y.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry it took me a little longer to post this chapter...sometimes there's not enough time in the day!

Jane was not one of Maura's favorite subjects after their disagreement. She wanted to give Jane the professional relationship that she apparently craved, but she had already called Detective Frost before Jane decided to vent her frustrations with Maura, so he showed up in the morgue at the end of the day, right when he said he would.

"Hey, doc," Frost said, as he took a survey of the room before entering. "You need something?"

"Yes, I did," Maura said. She could have turned him away, but if Jane was going to be strictly a coworker, Maura needed to work on cultivating new friends. Conversing with Detective Frost would be a good start. "Nothing case related though, so it can wait if you need to work the Asimov case."

"Nope, we just got the guy," Frost said, then added with a knowing smile. "There was enough to convict, but when Jane got through with that interrogation we had our confession. She was on the warpath for sure today."

"That was actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Maura said. "Do you have any idea what's causing her bad mood?"

Frost leaned against Maura's desk and squinted his eyes thoughtfully for a moment.

"You know, I thought maybe it was just Jane being all business, but it's not, not really," Frost said. "Wait. What's the date?"

Maura glanced down at her desk calendar.

"October 11," Maura said. "Why? What's the significance?"

"Oh man," Frost said. "That's it. It's no wonder she's on edge."

"What? What's 'it'?" Maura asked. Maura always found the frequent use of pronouns without antecedents by English speakers equal parts frustrating and fascinating.

"It's today," Frost said. "Today's the anniversary of Hoyt."

"Hoyt?"

"You mean you don't know?" Frost asked. "You haven't seen Jane's scars? They're from a serial killer, guy named named Charles Hoyt."

"I hadn't known, I had no idea, I mean, I asked several and she never told me, always made a joke," Maura said. Her mind was going in a dozen different directions at once, and she needed to focus on something specific, something concrete. "What happened?"

Frost shrugged.

"She's told me about as much as she's told you, and I've been her partner for awhile now. It's just not something Jane would ever tell me. There're no details in the newpapers to prevent copycats, and all the statements are sealed by a court order," Frost said. He looked at the back wall of Maura's office and continued. "It bugs me sometimes, that she won't trust me. But I've gotta respect her, you know?"

Maura looked blankly at the same wall as Frost, unsure of what to say. Her interactions with Jane had just become a lot more complicated. Jane hadn't been angry at Maura, at least not nearly as angry as she had acted. Jane's suppressed anger and frustration at the approaching anniversary had apparently manifested in an inability to perform unnecessary or friendly social interactions.

"I have to go," Maura said turning to Frost, who turned to look at Maura. "Thank you though. And you are an excellent partner. I'm sure Jane knows that."

Frost nodded and smiled thinly. He stuck out his hand. "Thanks, any time," he said.

Without doing her customary double check of all locks and lights, Maura left the morgue for Jane's apartment.

* * *

Maura strode out of the elevator and down the hall. She was an M.E. on a mission, that much would be clear from the name tag she had forgotten to remove on her way out the door of the office coupled with her purposeful stride towards Jane's door.

She knocked sharply on the door a few times and waited with the patience usually more characteristic of Jane. Really, why wouldn't Jane trust her with even the most basic information regarding those injuries? She hadn't been hoping for all the gritty details, but she did wish that Jane would have at least said the wounds were from an attack. Even Detective Frost knew that much.

No, Maura got nothing. She'd been blindsided by Frost's revealation, and Maura did not particularly like it, especially when she considered Jane one of her few friends. It hurt to think that Jane wouldn't trust Maura when Maura had trusted Jane enough to discuss some very personal, private things, things she'd only ever mentioned to Garrett and Ian.

When Jane answered the door, she looked exhausted, which was how Maura had grown accustomed to seeing Jane, having spent a good deal of time working extremely long hours on some horribly gruesome murders.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Maura asked, sounding just a bit more demanding and unreasonable that she had intended.

It was equal parts frustration at being left out of the loop and a delayed reaction to Jane's treatment of her in their conversation that morning. Discovering the reason for Jane's moodiness had taken some of the sting out of their earlier conversation, but Maura still felt a bit hurt by the way that Jane had treated her.

"Tell you what?" Jane responded as she insitinctively moved aside to let Maura into her apartment.

Maura entered the apartment, but without the same brisk pace as she had walked down the hallway.

"I think you know what," Maura said, making every effort to sound less on edge and more sympathetic. After all, if Jane felt threatened or antagonized, the chances of her opening up to Maura would decrease dramatically.

Jane shrugged as she let the door swing shut. She folded her arms and crossed the room a few steps to plop down on the sofa.

"No. What? That I'm kinda allergic to shellfish?" Jane responded. When Maura didn't add anything more, Jane shrugged again. "C'mon give me a hint here."

Well, now that Maura thought about it, she had been making assumptions that she ought not to have made. She had assumed that Jane would be thinking about Hoyt, partially because Maura was thinking about Hoyt. It was a foolish mistake, one that Maura found she'd made not because of social awkwardness, but based on emotions. That particular faux pas was a new one for Maura.

"Why didn't you tell me what Hoyt did to you?" Maura asked as she sat down next to Jane. "I only ask because I want to help, and I can't help if you don't trust me."

She wanted to take Jane's hand, but resisted, settling instead for rubbing Jane's arm as a gesture of comfort, an indication that she wasn't upset. That anger had dissipated the moment she recognized an unusual lack of inflection in Jane's voice and an almost complete lack of the usual animation as she spoke, a sign that Jane was certainly not herself. The frustration was slowly slipping away too; now Maura just wanted to be able to offer Jane comfort. And she hoped that Jane would trust her enough to allow that to happen.

"Shit," Jane muttered as she put her hands over her face and leaned her head back against the sofa.

"Jane, I'm not going to insist you tell me the details. I would just really like to know why felt you couldn't tell me even a small bit of the truth," Maura insisted. She was nothing if not persistent in her pursuit of an answer. Especially if the answer might help her to make herself more trustworthy for Jane, because clearly she had missed something if Jane hid the source of her scars.

"When did you want me to tell you, Maura? These things don't really come up in conversation you know," Jane said. "How's your day? I'm doing good. Oh, by the way, there was this time a serial killer lured me into a trap, hit me over the head with a two by four, and put a scapel through each hand with the expressed intention of mutilating, raping and killing me in no particular order. Yeah, that makes for really good conversation over drinks."

Now Maura felt incredibly guilty at having forced Jane into revealing such information. Of course she hadn't demanded the revealation  _per se_ , just a reason for Jane keeping it all a secret. Still, she felt awful at seeing the miserable look on Jane's face as the detective finished speaking, the pain that the recollection had caused. It'd been selfish to demand answers when Maura didn't know the trauma Jane had experienced. She should have known; Maura felt like she really should have been able to understand the nature of the attack based on Frost's description of Jane's reaction to the events. But she hadn't; Maura had failed to see what should have been a reasonable extrapolation if the doctor had paused for a moment to organize all the new information.

Maura had a hard time looking at Jane.

"I'm sorry, Jane. I just felt as if you didn't trust me enough to tell me. I didn't realize," Maura said softly, looking her own hands. "I didn't realize it was that bad."

Jane glanced back and forth between the door just behind and to the right of Maura, then down at her hands and back again, almost as if embarassed by the fact that she'd just revealed all of that information all at once. Maura didn't know with certainty how often Jane had spoken about the story, but, based on Jane's reaction, that level of disclosure was out of the ordinary for Jane. It took a few long seconds before Jane spoke.

"Yeah, I mean, how should you know? It's not really something I talk about with anyone. I'll tell you the details if you really need it. Hell, maybe I really need it. You know, therapeutic or whatever," Jane said.

The edge in Jane's voice had softened, perhaps at attempt to make up for the aggressively indifferent, then downright aggressive tone when she saw how upsetting the news was to Maura. It wasn't right, Maura thought. Jane shouldn't feel the need to comfort Maura over the fact that Jane was attacked and seriously injured by a serial killer.

But Jane clearly did feel that way. Before Maura could stop her, Jane went over to a bookshelf that held a few police textbooks, some novels, and a few reference books that Maura had purchased for Jane as gifts. Resting against the row of books as a kind of bookend was a plain brown box, no bigger than a shoe box. Maura, though she normally prided herself on observational skills, had never even noticed the box before.

Jane took the box off the shelf without worrying about the few books that slid out of place.

"Here," Jane handed the box to Maura, who took it gingerly. "I know it's kinda morbid, but I have a few clippings and stuff. Not sure why I keep it. Its just sort of here, you know. Can't seem to bring myself to throw it out. Just, you know, some of it's kind of, um, graphic."

Maura looked down at the box. She wondered if it was even her place to do this, to pry her way into Jane's closely held secret. Jane had made the offer, but Maura couldn't tell if Jane was really ok with Maura looking at the hidden items. Maura knew that sometimes people offered things they didn't really want to offer out of a misplaced sense of obligation.

"May I?" Maura asked. "Are you sure? I don't need to know, honestly. I'm not angry. I was just, I was surprised by the information, that you hadn't told me."

"Yeah, I know, go ahead. A lot of it's stuff you could've found on the internet anyway."

It was on the internet. Maura could have found all this out with a simple google search, all without subjecting Jane to Maura's insecurity and bringing up extraordinarily unpleasant memories for Jane. And the ironic part was that Maura  _always_  did at least a quick search on new coworkers or friends. She just never bothered with Jane because she'd made assumptions, guesses, about Jane and her backstory, had assumed that Jane felt comfortable enough to discuss anything Maura might have discovered in a quick google search.

That was the very reason that Maura never liked to assume or guess; she usually missed crucial bits of information. Maura's affection for Jane blinded her, made her believe in a fairytale version of Jane's past because that's what she  _wanted_  to believe, not based on any kind of empirical evidence.

Now Maura needed to reorganize and rebuild that reality; she needed to know Jane's true back story if she was going to have any hope of being the kind of companion that Jane deserved.

Maura opened the box, doing her best to keep her hands steady. She glanced at the first few articles, all with similar headlines. "Officer Assaulted by Suspected Serial Killer" and similarly sterile, succinct description. They were accurate in what little information they provided Maura; it was obvious that the media had been given very limited information, as Maura knew was police procedure with sensitive cases and cases that might inspire copycats.

Then there was a lengthy article about Charles Hoyt's guilty verdict for one of his first murders. The main picture was of the prosecutor standing at the podium. Maura could make out Jane standing in the background. She was in her plainclothes and Maura could just barely see Jane's hand's wrapped in thick layers of gauze.

The final items, at the very bottom of the box were almost too much to take. The pictures of Jane's freshly injured, still bleeding hands from the crime scene photos were a shock after the tame news stories. Four images, one after the other, each image as horrible as the next.

Maura imagined each nerve, blood vessel and muscle that the scapel would have penetrated and felt intensely sad at the thought that Jane had suffered that kind of physical pain. It was torture, those hand wounds alone constituted an intensely torturous experience. Then there was the emotional torture, the kind of torture that was much more difficult for Maura to quantify.

"Oh my God, Jane," Maura said. "Oh my God."

She dropped the photos back into the box and shut it quickly as if shutting the box would remove the images from her memory. Maura didn't know what to do with herself; she felt so helpless in the face of her friend's suffering. For the first time in a long time, words failed Maura.

She pulled Jane into a hug and sniffed as she tried to hold back tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I wouldn't have come here like this if I did. I'm so sorry," Maura said, only letting go when Jane pulled away, a sad smile on her lips.

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault," Jane said. She blinked quickly a few times as she wiped a tear off Maura's cheek. "See, this why I don't tell people about this. I didn't want to make you cry like that. I hate when you cry."

"I hate it when you hurt, Jane," Maura said. "I know this, whatever you went through, still hurts you. I can tell from the way you reacted to the photos. You can't even look at the articles. And it's the aniversary, so you've been withdrawn and moody, and just not yourself."

Jane nodded and looked down at her hands.

"I'm sorry about that. That I was such an asshole just because all this crap was coming to the surface again. I've just got so damn good at running away from the scary emotional shit that when you wanted me to stop and explain why I was running I got pissed off and tried to shove you aside," Jane said. "And I got angry at you because you were an easy target."

"Jane, I really-

"I'm just, I want to explain it to you before you say anything else. You're, I do trust you. More than I trust anyone else," Jane said. "More than my own mom. Hell, even more than Frost or Korsak. I want you to know that and really believe it, ok?"

Maura smiled and nodded. She couldn't help feeling a little bit of relief at having inspired such trust in Jane. She reached out and let her fingers rest on Jane wrist. Maura didn't realize until that exact moment how very tactile she was with Jane in comparison to other people; at a time when she would have responded to anyone else verbally, she had instinctively reached out to touch Jane.

Jane looked up at Maura; she nodded as if to confirm something to herself and rose from the couch. Jane paced towards the bookshelf and back again as if she was pondering something before finally settling on her answer and sitting back down on the couch and facing Maura. She tucked both legs under her and rubbed her hands over her face before letting them fall into her lap. Then she looked up at Maura and spoke quietly.

"It still sucks so bad sometimes. When it's quiet, and I'm alone and I start thinking too much," Jane said. "I can't help thinking about it. Like today. Today's been the worst day in awhile."

Maura remained quiet, not daring to move for fear of ruining the moment.

"I can't forget," Jane continued, her eyes flicking down to the box of pictures and articles, then back to Maura before settling on a spot on the couch cushion to her left. "It's always gonna be there, and I can't do a thing about it. Two years later and I still have nightmares sometimes."

Maura reached out and put a hand on Jane's cheek. She sensed that Jane had never allowed herself to acknowledge these sentiments out loud, that she was giving Maura this information because Jane really trusted Maura that much. And Maura wanted Jane to know that the revelation hadn't frightened the ME away.

"I want to forget so bad," Jane said, her voice ragged and thick.

Jane looked up at Maura, and Maura saw Jane crying for the very first time since their first meeting. What broke Maura's heart more though, was the look on Jane's face. It was so lost, so sad, so  _not_  Jane. That face shook Maura more than the picture had.

Maura's first and only impulse was to hug Jane, to reach out and pull her into a tight hug and just hold her as she cried. Although Maura was not an impulsive person, she followed this impulse and Jane didn't resist. As a matter of fact, Jane hugged Maura back, wrapping her arms tightly around Maura. Jane wasn't sobbing; she was a quite crier, but Maura could tell even as she held Jane that the detective was crying based on Jane's shallow, irregular breathing pattern.

"I know you do," Maura said as she held Jane's head against her shoulder and stroked Jane's hair.

Maura sat in that position, holding Jane protectively against her for, well, she couldn't have said exactly how long, but it felt like a significant period of time. Maura didn't mind in the least; she liked that Jane trusted her enough to allow the moment to happen.

After a while, Jane fell quiet, but she didn't move. Maura suspected based on Jane's gradual shift from short, jagged breaths to slow, even breaths that Jane had cried herself to sleep, or a state very close to sleep. As much as Maura didn't mind being there in Jane's time of need, her knowledge of the human body told her that Jane would have a stiff neck and back for the next few days if she didn't get the detective into a more conventional position for sleeping.

"Jane," Maura whispered into Jane's ear.

Jane groaned sleepily and snuggled closer to Maura.

"Jane," Maura said a little louder. "Would you like me to help you into bed?"

"You too," Jane said as she squinted up at Maura.

"What?"

"You want to go to bed too?" Jane asked.

"To sleep?" Maura asked. The question felt silly, but Maura thought she needed to ask given her history with Jane.

"Just sleep," Jane said as she stretched her arms over her head and rose from the couch. When Maura did not immediately respond, Jane added, "only if you want to though."

Maura was on the verge of asking if that was what Jane wanted, because that usually tended to be her impulse when people asked her to stay over. Did they really want her, or had she just inadvertently overstayed her welcome? This time, however, she could tell that Jane wanted her there, maybe even needed her there. Jane gestured towards the half open bedroom door.

"You know, I am awfully tired," Maura said as she kicked off her heels and got up from her spot on the couch.

Jane grinned sleepily and walked ahead into the bedroom.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, ya'll, for me this is uber!angst and not something that is going to be permanent. Even if this is largely a lighter fic, I just wanted to acknowledge that Jane suffered a major trauma that would, in all likelihood, have a lasting effect on her psyche and how she goes about relationships. Just wanted to put that out there :)


	15. Trial and Error

Jane had woken up next to Maura a few times, but never like this. Never had they both been fully clothed, Jane in her pajamas and Maura in a borrowed t shirt and yoga pants. It felt weird in a kind of new and interesting way. Jane still felt attracted to Maura, but the lingering sense that they were doomed forever to see each other only as ex-vacation sex friends wasn't there. And Jane really liked it.

Maura was still asleep, curled up on her side facing Jane. Jane remembered Maura mentioning something about sleeping styles and personality, but she couldn't remember for the life of her what it had been. All the google stuff tended to blend together after a while.

Jane watched Maura sleep for a few minutes in the least creepy way that she could manage. She had her own super unscientific theory that people were more honest when they were sleeping. Honest probably wasn't the right word, because they weren't saying anything; it was just a gut instinct that you could tell a lot from watching a person while the slept.

Maura, for example, slept curled tightly on her side, as if she was trying to hide or keep people from seeing her by making herself small. Then there was the fact that she had fallen asleep facing Jane, so close that, had Jane turned on her side they would have been nose to nose. Had Maura fallen asleep like that, looking at Jane, or was this a totally involuntary thing?

Still, she was awfully close. And then there was the fact that Maura's foot rested across Jane's ankle and her hand had fallen onto Jane's wrist. Contact that could very well have been incidental. But Jane was a big believer in the subconscious doing instinctively what the conscious part won't do.

Wait, what was Jane doing? Was she actually trying to read into Maura's body language, trying to convince herself that Maura had a thing for her beyond vacation sex? It was ridiculous, so incredibly stupid to be thinking like that when they had just found a comfortable, non-awkward place.

But there she was, thinking about it. Obsessing about it now. Why? Why was Jane thinking this way? And why on Earth was she continuing to stare at Maura for no real reason? Well, she was nice to look at…

Shit. It really was impossible to get to and stay in that non-awkward place in her head when it came to Maura.

Jane sighed and sat up slowly and quietly, trying not to wake Maura. She swung her feet slowly off the bed and onto the floor then rested her head in her hands. It all felt so complicated, and to top it all off, Maura now had one of Jane's big secrets. Jane's flashback nightmares, a closely guarded secret from everyone but her therapist for so long, just spilled out into Maura's lap in the course of a single night.

The thing that got Jane though, that really got to her, was that it didn't bug her that much. It should be a huge problem that anyone, especially a coworker, had seen her breakdown. The fact that it didn't bother Jane actually bugged Jane more than anything.

No, for some really strange reason, she was actually glad that Maura knew. It was like she could finally just chill with someone without worrying about letting something slip because she'd already let one of the biggest somethings in her life slip. It had also been like hitting a pressure valve, had felt good to let go of some of that tension, to tell at least one person who wasn't a mental health professional. Too bad that one person was also the single coworker Jane had insane sexual chemistry with.

She could do this. Jane could be the best friends and coworker and non-sexual partner of Maura Isles. She just needed a plan. First, though, she needed a nice, big breakfast.

* * *

Maura felt Jane shift in the bed, but she hoped it was just to go to the bathroom. After all, Jane was very anti-mornings, and Maura's internal clock told her it was only about 8:00, very early for Jane to be up on her off day. But she didn't return, and Maura drifted off to sleep again. She usually liked an early start, but Maura had gotten very little sleep. After slipping under Jane's covers, Maura's mind had raced off in a dozen different directions. Had Jane seen a therapist? Probably, given that it was police procedure after any debilitating injury on the job. But was she still seeing someone? Did she need to?

Maura watched Jane intently for any signs of nightmares. For the most part, Jane slept pretty heavily, but Maura knew that PTSD flashback nightmares were most likely to occur in later REM cycles. So she waited, not sure what she planned to do if Jane did have one of her nightmares. As far as Maura knew, she'd never been present for one of Jane's nightmares, and Maura lacked the requisite medical training to deal with the kind of trauma Jane had suffered. Despite those factors contributing to a sense that Maura could do very little for Jane, the doctor just felt more useful being awake and available if Jane needed comfort.

At one point, probably around 2 AM, Maura reached out to brush her fingers against Jane's arm; a part of Maura realized that the touch was as likely to provoke a negative reaction as it was to calm Jane, should the detective wake suddenly from a nightmare. The touch was as much to comfort Maura, a way make herself feel useful. Maura wasn't sure if the touch worked on Jane, but found it strangely calming for herself, resting her hand on Jane's arm, feeling Jane's warm skin under her cool hands. Not long after, Maura drifted off to sleep.

That'd been at almost 3 AM. So, by her calculations, Maura needed about three more hours of sleep for her brain to function at optimal levels.

Maura snuggled into Jane's pillow and pulled the covers tightly around her shoulders. Now she could just drift off for a few more minutes.

Well, she could have, had Jane not started cooking some savory smelling maple smoked bacon. Maura could try to stay in bed, but her olfactory glands were being stimulated to the point that she would only ever be able to achieve, at best, a restless sleep.

Maura found one of Jane's BPD hoodies hanging on the back of her door and pulled it over her head.

She wasn't sure what version of Jane that she expected to find in the kitchen, but Maura definitely hadn't expected what she found.

She'd expected a subdued, even slightly awkward exchange with the detective. Perhaps an attempt by Jane to mitigate the seriousness of the previous night's confession. Maura got neither; instead, Jane was chipper as she'd ever been, fully dressed in yoga pants and a t shirt, humming some indistinct rock tune as she filled her plate with pancakes, sausage and bacon and proceeded to drown it all with maple syrup.

When Maura entered, Jane grinned and held out a plate.

"Just in time," she said. "Made some breakfast. Help yourself."

Maura did in fact help herself to a couple of pieces of bacon and two moderately sized pancakes with just a dash of maple syrup to top it off.

Then Maura took her usual seat at the island, fully expecting Jane to sit directly across from her, as usual. Instead, Jane sat a little further away, in the seat to the right of the one she usually sat in, the one diagonally across for Maura. Maura wondered if Jane even knew what she was doing, but she'd learned early on that Jane was very much a creature of habit, one that always sat in the same place if she could help it.

It still left the question of why Jane would change seats. It wasn't a big change though, and everything else seemed relatively normal, so Maura decided to let it go.

"Mmm," Maura said after swallowing her first bite of bacon. "As good as it smells."

"Hope that's a good thing," Jane remarked as she munched on a piece of bacon.

"It's a very good thing," Maura said as she followed Jane's lead in trying another bite of the bacon. "Got me out of bed before I completed my sleep cycle, so that's something."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that," Jane said as she started on her second piece of bacon. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"Oh, no it was a nice way to wake up. I've never woken up to the smell of breakfast before," Maura said as she instinctively reached out to touch Jane's hand as a way of reassuring her.

Jane flinched and moved her hand to her lap before Maura could touch her though. Odd, particularly considering the fact that Jane had never ever rejected physical contact before. Maybe it was subconscious, or perhaps the memory of last night's breakdown was too raw for Jane. Maybe Jane hadn't realized that she'd done it, because she carried on with the conversation in a way that was pleasant enough.

"You mean your mom seriously never made you bacon and pancakes in the morning?" Jane asked.

Maura chuckled. Clearly, Jane knew next to nothing about Constance Isles, because the woman probably hadn't cooked a day in her life despite Constance's proclaimed appreciation for fine cuisine.

"My mother never cooked. We had a chef if we wanted anything cooked, but my bedroom was in the other wing, so I never smelt breakfast until I got to the dining room," Maura said.

She rarely mentioned things like that, mostly because she knew that Jane never had those luxuries and didn't want her friend to think they were over emphasizing the class difference. Jane seemed to take it well though. She smiled an shook her head.

"Well, now you can safely check that experience off your list of things to do, I guess," Jane said. "Just be grateful I didn't wake you up cooking corned beef and cabbage. Stuff smells nasty."

They both grinned and Maura managed direct eye contact with Jane for the first time in the morning. Jane chose that moment to look back down at her plate to cut up her pancake into small pieces. Maura followed Jane's lead and took a bite of her bacon, but she was becoming increasingly confused by Jane's behavior. Her friendly, easy, conversational tone and the genuine smile didn't match her reserved, distant body language. A side effect of the previous night's conversation? Perhaps something had changed between them and Maura was just now realizing it.

"So, I was thinking," Jane said after a sip of coffee to wash down the pancakes. "We should do something a little different today."

"What did you have planned?" Maura asked.

"Here's what I think. We're gonna go out date hunting," Jane said.

"You mean you want us to each find a sexual partner?" Maura asked. She realized the term was clinical and a little awkward, but she wanted clarity for what felt like kind of an odd request from someone who had previously shown no interest in actively searching for dates.

"I guess it might lead to that stuff, but we're not doing it for ourselves," Jane said. "I was thinking that we could go find dates for each other."

"Like set each other up?" Maura asked. She squinted her eyes and tilted her head to the side, trying to understand where this was coming from. It all felt a little bit contrived and out of nowhere.

"I guess you could say that, but not exactly," Jane said. She took a bite of her maple syrup saturated pancakes. "I mean, like, a game where we pick people out for one another, and then I can decide if I wanna go for it or the other way around."

It sounded like an unnecessary complication to add to Maura's fairly strict dating routine, but this could very well be Jane's attempt at developing a closer friendship, her way of saying they were on solid ground. Besides, like Jane said, it would probably just turn into a fun little game, an inside joke.

Maura nodded.

"I just need to set the parameters first," Maura said. "As you know, my sexuality is fluid, so I am open to a partner of any gender identity. I would prefer someone between the ages of-

"Whoa, whoa," Jane said, holding up her hands in front of her. She had that half grin where she was trying to suppress a smile and failing. Maura liked that smile a lot, partly because she was one of the only people to ever get that out of Jane.

"Maybe instead of filling out the whole dating profile we use this as a way to, you know, get to know each other," Jane said. She popped her last piece of bacon into her mouth.

"But can you at least give me guidelines?"

Jane took a big bite of her pancake and just shook her head.

"Not even a twenty year age range? A personality type?"

Jane shook her head again.

"Gender?" Maura asked.

Jane raised her eyebrows suggestively. Was that a 'you should know' face? Or a 'what do you think' face? Or maybe she just wanted Maura to figure it out on her own. Maura wished Jane would make with more verbal communication.

"Trial and error," Jane said. She stood from her spot at the counter and downed the rest of her coffee. That woman really could finish a meal with impressive speed, Maura thought. "Now finish your food so we can figure out where to get us some dates."

Before Maura could decide on how best to respond, Jane had flashed her a quick grin and disappeared to the bedroom.

 


	16. The Game

 

After some debate and resistance from Maura, Jane had managed to get the woman to agree to her admittedly bizarre proposition. On one condition though: if Jane got to withhold dating preference, Maura would chose where they would start with the date hunt.

It felt like a fair trade at the time. After all, the whole point of the convoluted scheme was to stop them from considering each other as 'potential sexual partners' as Maura might put it. By dating other people and actively encouraging each other to date, Jane figured they'd have less time and be far less likely to find lingering eye contact and flirty banter acceptable behavior for coworkers and best friends.

Still, Jane didn't have to be thrilled about Maura's choice of venue.

"A dog park, Maura?" Jane whined. "Seriously?"

"But you always seem fond of the Detective Korsak's rescue dogs," Maura said.

"Yeah, I don't hate dogs. They're ok one at a time, but not a whole hoard of them just running all over the place," Jane said as she eyed a particularly menacing dog and its owner walk down the path that was in front of them. "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Maura said as she got out of the car, probably to keep Jane from driving off. "On a sunny, mild day like today it's filled with a wide variety of people, most of whom own a dog, which indicates a certain level of responsibility."

Jane sighed as she got slowly out of her side of the car and walked around the front of it to stand next to Maura.

"Might help if I had a dog," Jane said as she watched a skinny teenage boy playing fetch with what looked like a golden retriever. "You know, wouldn't want people thinking I'm irresponsible or anything."

Maura, who'd become marginally better at understanding at least Jane's brand of irony, narrowed her eyes and looked at Jane for a second, tilting her head as if she were making some complex calculation. She apparently decided to take Jane by the elbow as she walked towards the park.

"I can assure you that your good looks will make up for any perceived shortcomings stemming from your lack of animal ownership," Maura said, glancing over at Jane as they now walked side by side up a path towards a bunch of benches in small grove of trees nearby.

"Wait," Jane said, trying to suppress a smug grin. "Did you just call me good looking?"

Maura sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'd like to think that I've made it clear that I find you extraordinarily attractive," Maura said, a soft smile playing at her lips as she slowed and turned so that she was standing facing Jane, forcing Jane to stop short. Very short. She'd very nearly walked into Maura and wondered how it had been humanly possible for Maura to maneuver so quickly in those heels.

Speaking of heels, Maura had picked the perfect heel so that she was just about eye level with Jane. Maura smirked, almost like a challenge, a suggestive, 'let's see how quickly I can get your clothes off' type of challenge. It was authoritative too, in control. Almost as though, if this were eye sex, Maura wanted to make clear that she would be topping this time. Despite her earlier resolution to think strictly platonic things about Maura for an entire day, Jane had only one thought at that moment.  _She's gorgeous._

"Yeah?" was the only thing that Jane could say with any kind of cool at all, because damn, the woman was hot and cute and gorgeous all the same time. A part of Jane began to seriously wonder why she'd been so desperate to get away from Maura. The other part was thrown off her game by the sudden proximity and the boldness of that look in Maura's eyes; there was absolutely nothing subtle about that look.

"Yes," Maura said. "If my telling you that I find you beautiful while you were giving me some of the most incredible sex of my life wasn't sufficient, then my telling you repeatedly in the course of our platonic relationship should be enough."

"Okay, um, thanks, I guess, so, um, I," Jane said, glancing around to buy herself a second or two. She sure as hell didn't want to move away, but they couldn't very well stand so close for any length of time before the touching started.

How had this conversation started anyway? What the hell where they doing in some random 'dog friendly' park without a dog anyway? Oh, yeah, the damn dating game. In theory the idea sounded good, and completely reasonable to Jane, but, in reality, it was sounding more and more like one of the stupidest sober ideas she'd had in awhile.

"Maybe we shouldn't be talking about our shared sex lives while we're trying to find dates," Maura said when Jane didn't add anything else after trailing off. Truth be told, Jane had been about two seconds away from ditching the game altogether and kissing Maura then and there; she'd even let her eyes drift back to Maura and her lips in preparation for that kiss. But she'd been too slow, and Maura mistook her hesitation for reluctance to say or do anything more than their usual flirty banter.

Maura remained smiling, but it felt different, a bit more forced as she took a small step back, allowing Jane to move towards the bench. Jane did just that, because she saw no other option once the moment passed. Maybe Jane would just have to let the day play out, wait for another opening.

Maura sat next to Jane at a comfortable distance, a little bit closer than strangers, but reasonable for friends. Jane felt inappropriately disappointed that Maura hadn't continued with her mini-seduction attempt at least a few seconds longer, though she suspected it had something to do with the thought of dating other people. That  _was_  a little bit of a mood killer, and, Jane realized, her own fault for suggesting this game in the first place.

"So, what are you thinking? How might we go about doing this?" Maura asked with the same scientific curiosity that she approached anything new and different. It was one of those things about Maura that Jane found endlessly amusing and adorable. Jane fought the impulse to call it adorable, but couldn't think of any other way to describe it.

"Let's say you pick out a date for me, and I can try to get their number if I want to, or I can pass," Jane said. "Then vice versa. We'll start with that."

Maura appeared to contemplate the stipulations for a few second before suddenly pointing to a man walking some kind of brown and white terrier looking thing.

"Him," she said decisively.

"Him?" Jane repeated incredulously. "Seriously? Maura, he's older than my father, even looks like him. Just hairier."

Maura shrugged. "Well, I've yet to meet your father, and you refused to tell me about your dating preference. You may very well have had a fetish for hairy older men that I was unaware of."

"In the months that you've know me, Maura, have I  _ever_  given you  _any_ reason to believe that I might be interested in having sex with a man that looks like my father?" Jane asked.

"To be fair, before today we hadn't talked about dating preference," Maura said.

Yeah, Jane thought, because we're too busy actively trying not to sleep together while flirting shamelessly.

"Fine, but, for the record, I do not have a thing for men that look like dear old dad," Jane said. "And I prefer dating someone who isn't almost forty years older than me."

Maura shrugged.

"Can I pick another then?" she asked.

Jane had intended to take her turn next, but decided to let Maura go ahead since she didn't see anyone in particular to point out to Maura. When Jane nodded, Maura quickly pointed out a young redheaded man sitting by himself, stretched out on a blanket, apparently trying to get a tan.

"Well, Maura, I'd prefer knowing for sure that my date is actually, you know, legal," Jane said.

"You think he's under 18? Perhaps a bit younger than you, but I'd say early twenties," Maura said. "Although he does have a young face...

Maura trailed off, apparently unwilling to completely disagree with Jane. So that was a definitely no then. Maura clearly wasn't that great at finding appropriate dates for Jane, so Jane was going to have to take over for a little while.

"''Kay, so my turn now," Jane said, leaning forward on the bench so that she could scan the park for someone. Maura had been right about one thing; there were a lot of people out, and all types.

"Her," Jane said, pointing to a woman who had just entered the park with a yippy looking little dog.

The woman's blonde hair was pulled back, and she wore yoga pants, a t-shirt and minimal makeup. Other than that, Jane couldn't really make out any distinctive features, but it seemed like at least an age appropriate choice. A small part of Jane also picked the woman over several men in the area because there was a much better chance that the woman would not want to sleep with Maura. Even then, Jane realized that she was taking a risk, because Maura was the level of hot that can turn a normally straight girl gay for a night or two of sexy fun. Still, it was the best Jane could do given the options.

Maura watched the woman for a second. She nodded and got to her feet.

"I'll be right back," Maura said as she smoothed over her pants. Then she winked, Maura actually winked at Jane before walking off to attempt to hit on another person. "With a date and a number."

Besides the huge mixed signals that particular quip sent, Jane began to feel vaguely annoyed by Maura's confidence. For all Maura knew, there was an excellent chance the woman was either taken or completely heterosexual. And she still went and said it, and that un-Mauralike behavior annoyed Jane more than it should have.

Now that Maura was walking up to the woman, ready to direct her best flirty behavior in that direction, Jane started to second guess the wisdom of her plan, and then the wisdom of her decision to let it play out for a day. It didn't feel particularly good sitting alone on a park bench while watching other people flirt, particularly a sexy ex-lover turned BFF.

Jane sighed and crossed her arms. She watched Maura slip into her flirty persona, marveling in spite of herself at the way that Maura appeared to consciously shift her body language, her stride, her smile. It all changed, and all that effort was for that woman, that other woman.

Yeah, Jane thought, this is going to be such a fun day.

* * *

As Maura approached the woman, she tried to do all of the things that she usually did to prepare herself for a flirty situation: project confidence without cockiness, keep a perpetual half smile on the lips, and focus attention exclusively on the one person that she was about to speak to. Scattered thoughts would quickly lead a breakdown in Maura's carefully researched courting techniques.

She managed the first two tasks with relative ease, but focusing her attention was proving quite a bit more challenging. Maura knew that Jane was probably watching intensely, and she'd never had an audience for this particular situation. Then she felt this odd resistance to this whole endeavor. Since arriving at the park, Maura couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't really want a date, that she just wanted to be here with Jane. She'd have been perfectly content to sit on that bench and talk and laugh with Jane, would have preferred it to this dating ritual that she actually found particularly tiring, especially she had no idea regarding the woman's sexuality.

Well, the woman was now close enough to speak to. Partial attention was going to have to do, because she would not return to the bench without speaking to the woman, not after all but guaranteeing success. Jane would never let her hear the end of it, and Maura was nothing if not stubbornly competitive in everything she did. It was what drove her to be top of her class out of med school, and now it was driving her to keep walking towards the woman.

So, there she was. Maura was going for it.

* * *

Jane watched the conversation way more closely than she should have. She'd almost convinced herself that she just wanted to pick up some flirting ideas. Almost. Except when she felt a little pang of something resembling jealousy as Maura smiled a genuine, 100 watt smile at something that woman said. Then she had to admit that she was downright jealous of the woman, jealous to the point of resentment. But Jane didn't want to be jealous, didn't want to have to admit that there was something more than memories of hot sex in the intense attraction between herself and the woman she now called her best friend.

So Jane watched intently as Maura and blondie spoke. For five minutes, then ten. Then fifteen. At sixteen and a half minutes, the woman took out her phone and appeared to program a number in, showing it to Maura for approval before slipping it back into her pocket.

Well damn it. Maura had closed the deal with the first person in their little game. At least it seemed that way from the way that Maura sat next to Jane all smiles. She sat so that her knees faced Jane and rested her elbow on the bench back.

"Got it?" Jane asked, trying not to sound pissed off.

"She was more than happy to exchange numbers so that we can arrange to meet up," Maura said, all adorably proud of herself.

"Cool," Jane said. She watched a kid sitting on a picnic blanket with his mom to keep from making eye contact that might reveal to Maura the particularly shitty, confusing feeling building in her chest. "Sounds promising."

"Yes. We've actually spoken before, but didn't realize it until I told her that I was a medical examiner," Maura said.

"You told her that?" Jane responded. She wasn't sure why, but it pissed her off that Maura had revealed that bit of information in a fifteen minute conversation when Maura managed to omit it for the entire first week that she knew the woman.

"She asked. I couldn't very well lie to her, you know that," Maura said. "Besides, she found it fasincating, my line of work."

"In a creepy homicidal way or just kind of curious way?" Jane asked, doing her best to put on the playfully sarcastic tone that she usually took with Maura.

"In a professional way," Maura said simply. "She's a crime reporter. That's why I'd spoken to her before. It was an interview request about the Clemson murder-suicide that I denied."

That caught Jane's attention. She knew almost every crime reporter in the city and liked less than half of of them. A number of them were obnoxiously persistent and, on a few occasions, had made her life difficult by leaking information that the media had no right broadcasting. This was going to be good.

"How romantic," Jane said. "What's this charming young woman's name?"

Maura either missed the biting sarcasm entirely or chose to ignore it. For most people it would have been clear, but Maura wasn't most people, so it was a tossup.

"Kitty. Kitty Vansen," Maura said. "Why? Do you know her?"

Know her? Was that even a question? Christ, this day was getting even better and better. It had started with a shitty idea that had, unsurprisingly, led to a shitty situation. Kitty Vansen was one of the most obnoxiously persistent of all the obnoxiously persistent reporters. She also had a way of showing up at crime scenes before they were made public knowledge that drove Jane absolutely crazy.

"Yeah, you could say that. Just be careful with her, ok?" Jane said. For fear of sounding jealous or bitter about the impending date, Jane had decided not to vent all of her frustrations with the woman to Maura.

"I always engage in safe, responsible sex, if that's what you mean," Maura said, tilting her head to the side a little bit the way that she had when something didn't quite make sense.

Jane sighed and balled her fists. She couldn't help it. The thought of Maura and that woman having sex, however 'safe and responsible,' created in Jane an actual negative physical reaction, one that Maura would definitely notice. Even if she sometimes sucked at picking up social cues, Maura was remarkably attuned to a person's physical reaction, particularly Jane's physical reactions.

"Not what you meant?" Maura asked.

"Not what I meant," Jane said. "Just, she's all about the job. Don't want her using you just to get the scoop. 'Cuz she's ruthless about that stuff, Maura. Trust me."

"I'll trust you if you trust me. I can handle myself," Maura said, not exactly angry, but without her usual warmth. It was a warning, a gentle warning, but a warning nonetheless.

"Fine, deal," Jane said, unwilling to make this into the stupid fight it was bound to become of she said anything else.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Jane shifted frequently, trying to get comfortable on the hard, wooden bench. After tackling a perp to the ground the previous week, her back occasionally tightened up, and this was proving to be one of those occasions.

"Do you want to lie down?" Maura asked suddenly without taking her eyes off the bustling park. "It might help with that muscle strain."

"Maybe, but no way I'm lying in the grass at a dog park, no idea what kind of treats I might find," Jane said.

Maura grinned and turned to face Jane for the first time since the abrupt end to their previous, Kitty-centric conversation.

"I know. You can lay on my lap," Maura said, in that very reasonable tone that she could use to make even the craziest things seem totally logical. And this idea, if not crazy, was, at best, counterproductive. But that voice made it seem like a good, totally natural thing to do.

There was also the fact that Jane didn't exactly hate the idea. So she shrugged and stretched out on her back, resting her head on Maura's lap as she looked up at the branches of the trees above them. Jane had to bend her knees and rest her feet on the bench, but the position was fairly comfortable otherwise.

Strike that, this was perfectly comfortable. Heavenly even, because now Maura was stroking Jane's hair from root to tip in the most calming, methodical way possible. It felt so normal and right and comfortable that Jane could have fallen asleep right then and there.

She almost did until Maura stopped. Jane wondered vaguely if Maura suddenly realized what she had been doing. Maura said her name, soft and gentle like a mom waking a baby or something. It took a few times before Jane actually opened her eyes and looked up at Maura.

"Yeah," Jane said, sounding way groggier than she'd intended to. "I'm awake."

Maura looked down and smiled at Jane in a way that Jane could only describe as adoring.

"I know," Maura said, fidgeting nervously, twisting a ring around her finger. She looked from Jane up at the park then back down at Jane like she was struggling between two contrary impulses. It seemed like this would be the time to get up and sit like two normal BFFs, but Jane couldn't bring herself to move.

"Do you want me to choose another date option for you?" Maura asked hesitantly.

Well, that was enough to bring Jane to move. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Not really in the mood anymore," Jane said. "Wanna grab a bite instead? I'm kinda hungry."

"But you haven't fulfilled the terms of our agreement," Maura said. "You've yet to make any attempt to get a phone number."

"So? It's just a game, Maura," Jane said.

"But you made the game up. What's the point of making up rules that you're not going to follow?" Maura asked.

"I changed my mind," Jane said.  _And nearly became violently ill at the thought of you having sex with that woman. "_ That's the beauty of makin' my own rules. I can change 'em and break 'em if I want."

Maura sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Your logic never fails to confuse me," Maura said. "So you want to abandon the endeavor altogether."

"Yeah, I mean, it was kind of a crappy idea anyway," Jane said. "So, yeah, I declare the game closed."

"I will accept that under one condition," Maura said. Jane saw the trace of a smile on the woman's lips and couldn't help but smile. "I win."

"Win what?"

"The game," Maura replied as she stood from the bench. "I got a phone number and you forfeited. That sounds like a resounding victory."

"Maura, this game is not a thing you can win," Jane said. "It's like, I dunno, dating or Monopoly, I guess. No one ever wins. You just play until someone gets bored and gives up."

"Well, that's an awfully depressing way to approach it," Maura said. "Besides, I always win at Monopoly. My terms remain the same. I win."

Maura's voice was stern, but her eyes sparkled with barely suppressed glee at beating Jane at her own rule changing game. No way Jane was going to say no to Maura, but the woman didn't need to enjoy her victory quite so much. Even if it was a fake game, Jane still hated losing.

"I guess that's ok," Jane said as she rose to stand next to Maura. "But only 'cuz I'm hungry and tired."

"Whatever you say, Jane," Maura said. "I still win."

With that, Maura had set off at a brisk walk in the direction of Jane's car. Jane had to use the full length of her stride to catch up enough to save her ego.

"Fine," Jane muttered. "But I get to pick the food."

It was a silly request to make, since it was Jane's day of the week to pick the food. Still, she need something.

Maura grinned at Jane, and Jane noted with some satisfaction that this was at least a 200 watt smile, brilliant and sincere and so adoring that Jane couldn't managed to see Maura's date with Kitty as much of a threat. Jane also began to wonder when Maura had started with that adoring smile, because she felt suddenly that it had always been there and she was really noticing it for the first time.

"Amendment accepted," Maura said as she opened the passenger door, that grin still on her lips. "And Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"Winner buys."

 


	17. Puzzling

The few days that passed between the first and second time Maura met Kitty were, for lack of a better word, puzzling. Despite assuring herself repeatedly that she wanted to go to the dinner Kitty had called to set up, Maura felt an overwhelming desire to call and cancel indefinitely at least once a day. And that desire usually cropped up when Jane was around.

Speaking of Jane, that woman was being even more puzzling than usual. They did the same things together: quick lunches in the morgue, conversation over coffee in the morning and de-stressing over beer and wine at night. It was all perfectly routine...

Except, of course, for a shift in Jane's demeanor, sometimes subtle enough to overlook, and other times glaringly obvious. It started when Jane found out about the date.

"Who you talking to in here?" Jane asked as she strolled into Maura's office and took her usual seat.

Maura placed the phone she'd just hung up on her desk and turned her attention to an email she'd just received from one of the techs without bothering to take a seat.

"Kitty," Maura said, frowning as she realized that the promising potential DNA match tested negative.

"Kitty," Jane repeated, as if she already knew the answer before she asked the question. Jane leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees.

"What did our friend have to say?" Jane asked with a forced nonchalance that Maura easily picked up on.

"She wants to have dinner," Maura said, crossing the room to get the folder she'd left on the top of a file cabinet when her phone rang a few minutes earlier. She also moved so that she wouldn't have to face Jane as she spoke. She kept her back turned as she looked at the chart out of a strange sense of guilt for what she was about to say. "And I agreed."

"You agreed?" Jane echoed. Maura had her back to Jane, but the response sounded strained, as if Jane was doing her best not to say something more.

"I didn't have any legitimate reason not to," Maura said as she turned back around and sat at her desk, looking directly at Jane for the first time in the conversation. Jane was leaning further back in her chair than before, but the posture wasn't relaxed. She bounced her foot up and down and clasped her hands tightly together, a posture of restraint and anxiety if Maura had ever seen one.

Jane's raised eyebrows bordered on accusatory. That look coupled with her own misplaced guilt made Maura feel compelled to defend herself in what she knew was a very ineffectual way.

"Jane, I," Maura paused and took a deep breath.  _Just need you to give me a reason to lose her number_. Maura took another, shakier breath before she spoke as much to herself as to Jane when she added "I can't...and I really want to give her half a chance. Besides, I mean, I can't...

"You can't lie to her, I know," Jane added helpfully, noticing that Maura was struggling to find her way out of the mess of words that she'd talked herself into. Jane smiled to herself and rose from her chair. "Anyway, I've got to head back up, just stopping to say hi anyway. See you for lunch?"

"Yes," Maura said, offering Jane a quick smile on her way out the door. With the moment ending so abruptly, she didn't feel it necessary to correct Jane's assumption. Even if she'd intended to ask Jane to give her an excuse to cancel and postpone any and all future dates with Kitty.

Jane reopened the conversation about Maura's date with Kitty no more than a few hours later over lunch. This time, she brought conversation around to the date with what Maura recognized as an attempt at subtlety, by asking about Maura's plans for the weekend. Maura felt compelled to tell Jane that the date with Kitty was set for Friday evening, and Jane nodded with unusual reserve as Maura gave her the details of the date and location of the dinner.

"Sounds super," Jane said as she tossed a paper napkin into the garbage from a few feet away. She missed by a few inches and Maura picked it up and put it in the garbage out of habit, all without paying much attention to what she was doing because her mind was elsewhere.

Maura's failure to read social cues had led her to read up on and observe the nuances of body language and micro-expressions. She could perform such readings on most people, but had even greater success with people that she knew, like Jane. And they had a shared sexual and platonic history that offered additional insight into Jane's keen interest in Kitty and anxious posture at hearing about the date. All that data combined led to a conclusion that was startling at first, then stunningly obvious after a few seconds of contemplation.

"Jane, are you jealous?" Maura asked before she could stop herself.

Jane started at the question, but recovered a second later.

"That you get to go on a date with Kitty Vansen?" Jane replied as she pulled a small ziplock baggie out of her brown paper lunch bag. "Not a snowball's chance in hell, that's for damn sure. I am, however, very jealous that you have fudge clusters for dessert."

As was their tradition, Jane took a fudge cluster from the neatly arranged pile on Maura's desk and replaced it with a chocolate covered pretzel from her baggie. Jane smiled broadly as she visibly enjoyed the treat.

Maura watched the whole proceeding with a distraction that was starting to give way to annoyance at Jane's stubbornness. Jane was clearly jealous; Jane's physiology didn't lie, and their complicated history and mutual attraction made jealousy a viable, understandable emotion in Jane's situation. The situation bothered Jane, but Jane wouldn't admit it because she was too stubborn for her own good.

Well, Maura wasn't going to  _make_ Jane say anything. If she was going to insist that fudge clusters were her biggest source of jealousy, then Maura would carry on as if she actually believed it. If Jane couldn't be bothered to admit her own jealousy, then Maura wasn't going to bother asking Jane to give her an excuse to cancel her date with Kitty.

Maura would go out on Friday night and do her very best to enjoy the company of Kitty Vansen.

* * *

In contrast with the rest of the week, Maura's date with Kitty was unsurprising for several different reasons. Kitty was a fairly good conversationalist, that much was clear from their conversation in the park. She also demonstrated a reasonable level of intelligence in that conversation. Based upon an objective, fact based standard, the date itself was going reasonably well.

But there was something missing, some untenable element, what Jane would call a vibe. It wasn't there, not even a little. Not even when Maura did her best to manufacture what she knew could not be artificially generated with much success, not in the way it had been with Jane right away.

"So what do you want to eat for desert?" Kitty asked as she looked over the menu at Maura.

See, that right there, that was a perfect example of the pattern that Maura had observed over the course of the date. A question like that, Maura thought, ought to feel less, well, mundane, and a little...sexier. At least that's how things had developed naturally with Jane.

Everything on this date just seemed so, well, perfunctory, like they were each saying things because they ought to be said. The conversation wasn't particularly stilted. It flowed well enough, mostly because Kitty was very loquacious, but Maura found herself bored by the discussion regardless of the topic of conversation.

"But I was thinking I ought to try something with a little less chocolate, so perhaps the lemon meringue pie, or the vanilla caramel sundae sampler," Kitty said.

Maura looked up from her menu and smiled politely. She'd found that it was enough to keep Kitty satisfied and talking, even if Maura had only heard half of the monologue.

"I think I'll get the lemon pie. You?" Kitty said. Only then Maura realized that their waiter returned to take their desert order, having been flagged down by Kitty.

Maura looked down at the menu. She honestly wasn't all that hungry and just wanted the date to be done. She wanted to go home and take off her heels, watch some TV. In short, Maura wanted to relax, and she felt as though she hadn't been able to in the entire date.

"I'll just have a coffee regular," Maura said as she smiled and handed the waiter her desert menu. "Thank you."

"So," Kitty said, leaning across the table as if she was going to tell Maura a secret or say something flirty. "I've been dying to ask you something all night."

Maura leaned forward a bit, hoping that this might be the start of a vibe that she desperately wanted to find with Kitty, some kind of spark that would make the date at least marginally interesting.

"What might that be?" Maura asked.

"Any scoop on the Rizzoli case?" Kitty asked.

That was another thing that felt off about the date; what had initially seemed like a natural curiosity regarding Maura's work had turned into the main topic of conversation. Maura had noticed that a significant portion of the conversation had some kind of direct or indirect connection to a death that Maura had investigated and/or one that Kitty had reported on.

Maura loved her job, but it wore on her to talk about it so much outside of work. She didn't mind talking about a case once or twice, in general terms of course, but this was the fourth case that Kitty had referenced directly, and it was draining to talk about violent crime with such frequency when she spent at least 40-50 hours a week around it.

Maura suspected her inability to relax at all during the date came from the frequent discussion of such things in such an inappropriate setting. Maura just needed a break from it for a few hours. Jane got that, understood the need to get some emotional distance from the crime scene when she was out of work. Clearly Kitty didn't.

"Which one? You must know that she's investigated a number of cases," Maura replied in a cool, disinterested tone that she hoped would put Kitty off.

"I don't mean the case Rizzoli investigated. The Rizzoli case," Kitty said. When Maura didn't respond, partly because she was still wrapping her head around the fact that they were still talking about violent crime, Kitty continued. "You know. With Charles Hoyt."

"I was not in Boston at the time," Maura said. She could feel her cheeks grown hot with barely suppressed anger at the woman's bold, brash inquiries.

"But you're friendly with Detective Rizzoli, right? I mean, that's the word with her fellow officers, that you're closer to her than anyone else," Kitty said.

Maura wasn't a guessing woman, but she felt secure in assuming Crowe was the woman's source. She cringed to think of the kind of things he'd said about Jane.

"I'm trying to put together a segment on the Rizzoli case," Kitty pressed on. The woman really was single minded, because if she wasn't she would have noticed Maura glaring at her. "It really is a riveting narrative. Only female BPD homicide detective's dogged pursuit of a ruthless, brilliant serial killer. I'm just missing some key details about the events leading up to Rizzoli's injuries, especially what happened in the basement because I haven't...

That was it. Maura decided to stop making an effort with this woman, to give up the polished politeness, because clearly the woman had little tact and concern for others if she so openly and bluntly and  _obsessively_  sensationalized these horrible stories. The question itself had been inappropriate, but it was the woman's tone that frustrated Maura more than anything. She spoke as if she was hoping to get some juicy office gossip or a movie spoiler.

These people, these victims, Maura knew from her experience with Jane, suffered real trauma at the hands of some awful people, and Kitty spoke about Jane's experience like it was a work of fiction without real life consequences. Maura cared deeply about Jane, and, to use a word that she rarely used, truly hated that anyone would treat Jane's pain as something to gossip about. Because that's all Kitty wanted: gossip on all the details, the gorier the better.

"Any personal knowledge that I might have of the Rizzoli case is absolutely none of your business," Maura said, then added without a hint of the warmth she usually tried to project, "And it would serve you well to find another interest. Such casual, insistent discussion of vicious, violent crime yields very few successful dates."

Kitty appeared sincerely shocked, as if no one had ever said anything of the sort to her. As if she really did expect Maura to hand over all of her case files just because Kitty attempted to use her bedroom voice. She didn't realize that Maura resisted Jane and her voice on a regular basis, which was sexier than anything Kitty would ever achieve.

"I, I'm sorry if I offended you Maura, but this is my job, much in the same way autopsy is your job," Kitty replied, not sounding nearly as contrite as Maura thought she ought.

"But this is not a place of work for either of us, is it?" Maura replied. "It would be wildly inappropriate, not to mention unsanitary, for me to perform an autopsy over dinner."

"Well, everywhere is a place of work for me. If I can get a lead in a park walking my dog, then that's my place of work. If I can get a scoop here in this restaurant, then I am going to do it," Kitty said. "I thought, as a career woman, you would get that."

There was another unsurprising development of the night; Jane had warned Maura about Kitty's single mindedness. As unsurprising as Kitty's behavior was, it still hurt that the woman admitted so openly to using Maura to further her professional aims. Perhaps the date had come out of a game, and maybe Maura followed through with the date out of a stubborn desire to have Jane make the first move, but Maura was on the date in good faith, out of a sincere wish to at least get to know someone new. Kitty obviously wasn't returning the favor.

"Well," Maura snapped, gathering her purse onto her lap. "It seems that you just ran out of leads here."

Maura never walked out on dates, so she wanted give this woman an opportunity to realize her mistake and ask Maura to stay. Even though Maura wouldn't go on another date with Kitty, it would be nice to feel wanted, or at least a little less used.

Kitty had the decency to look a little bit embarrassed at being so thoroughly shut down by the ME.

"Ok, yeah, I'm kind of getting that," she said.

"Good."

For the first time that evening, an uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Maura again busied herself looking at a wine list she'd already memorized while Kitty appeared desperate for her pie to arrive.

In what Maura could only have described as one of the best timed dispatch calls she'd ever received, Maura's work cell rang.

Maura didn't bother excusing herself, as she normally would. After all, it was business, and Kitty was all about doing business everywhere.

"Doctor Isles," Maura said.

"Hey,uh, Detective Rizzoli here," Jane said in her best official police business voice.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Maura asked, doing her best to maintain a neutral tone and facial expression even though she was relieved, even downright happy to hear Jane on the other end.

Any frustration she'd felt about Jane's stubbornness melted effortlessly away because it was such a welcome interruption. Jane's voice also triggered in Maura a biochemical reaction that caused mood elevation. To use layman's terms, Jane, despite her frustrating stubbornness, made Maura happy, happier than she had been at any point in conversation with Kitty.

"Um, I hear you're on a date," Jane said. It wasn't a question, because Jane knew for a fact that Maura was on a date. It seemed to Maura more like a stalling technique or a statement to set up the rest of the conversation.

"Yes," Maura said.

"How's that going?" Jane asked abruptly. "I mean, I don't need the dirty details, it's, I was just wondering. If she's right there give yes for good, no for bad, maybe for undecided on a second date. If you want me to stop being nosy and annoying, then just go ahead and say wrong number or hang up or something."

"No," Maura responded without hesitation. She glance across the table to see that Kitty was making herself busy reading the dessert list. "Definitely no."

"Ok, well then, I'm just calling cuz you have a dispatch. I'll text you the address. It's for a...Juanita Clementine," Jane said.

"Alright," Maura said, thinking that the name sounded vaguely familiar, though she wasn't able to place it. She also found it a little unusual that Jane and not dispatch had called with the information. "I'll be there shortly."

Maura snapped her phone shut and smiled her first genuine smile since well before the main entrees arrived at the table. It felt a tad inappropriate that she was happy to have a murder interrupt her date, but it was just such a relief to be able to remove herself from the situation.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to have to skip out before coffee," Maura said. It wasn't a lie; she was sorry to be missing out on the coffee, a specialty blend that only this restaurant served. "That was a dispatch from one of our detectives."

"Duty calls, I guess," Kitty said, shrugging as she glanced up from the menu, only managing to sound half interested in what Maura was saying. "See you around then."

"Yes," Maura said as she rose from her seat and tossed a few bills on the table, enough to cover her half and then some. "I suppose you will. Goodnight, Kitty."

"Night, Maura," Kitty said.

Maura nodded in response and turned quickly to leave the restaurant. Just as she opened the door to her car, her phone buzzed with the text from Jane. Now something was definitely going on. Maura knew that address, had definitely seen it somewhere. It was so familiar that Maura suspected she might have even been there before. But she just couldn't place where she'd seen it outside of that vague sense that it just didn't make sense.

As a precaution against getting lost, Maura programmed the address into her GPS, put the car into gear, and drove towards her destination.

 


	18. Interrogation Techniques

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a few signs that this was written years ago, complete with references to Ray Allen playing for the Celtics and a flip phone. I left it because anything I change it to will eventually become outdated too. And this story, despite being AUish, does take place around when the beginning of the series would have taken place, so Ray Allen and flip phones are plausible. I think I'm thinking too much about this one and just going to post it :)

 

It'd been a silly thing to do. A silly whim. Jane never would have made that call if it hadn't been for Frost egging her on, pushing her buttons until he convinced her that making the call she had just made was the only reasonable course of action.

It'd started out normal enough, with a phone call to her partner.

"Hey Jane," Frost said as soon as he answer. Jane could also hear a faint rustling sound in the background.

"Hey. Am I interrupting something?" Jane asked.

"Nope, just bringing in some groceries," Frost said.

"You mean beer?"

"You got it," Frost said. "Hey, you know it's a Saturday night  _and_  I'm not on call. I'm gonna crack open a few cold ones. Maybe watch a movie or something."

"How you feeling about coming on over with some of that beer to repay that debt from the Robber last week?" Jane asked. "Just me over here. Watching the Celts kick some ass for once."

"Where's Maura? Doesn't she usually hang out at your place?"

While that was true, and Maura did spend most of their shared time off with Jane at Jane's place, it was really more out of convenience. Jane's apartment was much closer to the precinct so they just kind of ended up there a lot of times. It didn't mean that Jane needed Maura around every minute. Nope, not at all.

"Yeah. Not sure exactly where she is right now," Jane said. It was true; Jane had no clue on how to get to that fancy restaurant Maura had mentioned. "So what's the deal? You in?"

There was a brief pause on the other end before Barry spoke again.

"Guess I could use a little company," Frost said. "You know I'm not quite as pretty as Maura or as...informative, but I'll do my best."

"First of all, you are a very pretty man, Barry Frost, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise," Jane said, continuing over Frost's protests. "Second of all you are not a Maura replacement, because I do not have a designated Maura space to fill. Third of all, shut up and make sure you bring some quality beer. None of that Keystone crap."

"Ok, ok, I'll be there in a few," Barry said. "Save a seat for me."

That conversation had somehow led to the conversation with Barry that lead to the Maura conversation. Much like the phone call before it, the conversation started innocent and normally enough, with some good-natured ribbing between two partners over a few beers and a good ball game.

"You think he's sexy, don't you?" Frost asked as he watched Jane stare intently at the screen during crucial free throw. "I can tell. I can tell you'd just  _love_  to have your way with him."

"Who?  _Him_?" Jane replied, gesturing at the TV as the player in question missed the second free throw. "Can't even shoot free throws.  _So_ unattractive. Now Ray Allen. That man can shoot free throws in his sleep _and_  he's got the sexiest three-point shot in the league."

"You're saying you'd sleep with Ray Allen?" Frost asked skeptically.

"Nah. Just admire a beautiful thing when I see it, you know," Jane said. In the time it took her to take a sip of her beer, one of the rookies made an impressive dunk over a guy that had a few inches on him.

"Damn! Now those are the kinda moves that'll make  _my_ panties drop," Frost said.

Jane raised her eyebrows.

"You trying to tell me something Frost?"

Frost laughed.

"Nah, I'm all about the ladies," Frost said as he rested his feet on Jane's coffee table. "How 'bout you?"

"What do you mean?" Jane asked, her voice coming out a little more strained that she'd expected it to.

"You trying to tell me something too?" Frost asked. He paused for a long, long second keeping a very close eye on Jane's reaction. "I mean with the Ray Allen sexy talk. You trying to say you like them tall, dark and bald?"

"For your information, I said his three point shot was sexy. I said nothing about the man himself," Jane said. "And I don't even know why we're having this conversation."

"Because you're drinking my beer," Frost said. "I get to decide where this conversation goes."

"And you want the conversation to be about which basketball players I wanna sleep with?" Jane asked.

Frost shrugged.

"It wasn't in the evening's master plan," Frost said. "But it's entertaining me now."

"How? How is this conversation entertaining you? It should be awkward," Jane said. "You're like my little brother."

"I have my reasons, but it's mostly because it's so easy and fun to annoy you," Frost said.

"Spoken like a true little brother," Jane muttered.

She smiled despite her mild annoyance at her partner's insistence on pursuing a ridiculous conversation just for the sake of pestering her. It was comfortable and easy to chat like this, and Jane enjoyed the fact that she'd grown close enough with Barry that they could tease each other without anyone ever getting offended. It'd taken some adjustments, but they'd found a good, comfortable place as both friends and coworkers.

They watched the waning minutes of the third quarter in relative silence, occasionally commenting on a nice block or, in Jane's case, swearing at a few missed calls. For the most part though they both just sipped their beers and watched the game.

Until a commercial break, when Frost decided to make a casual observation, almost like he was just thinking out loud.

"You know who I think is sexy in that 'just admiring a beautiful thing when you see it' type of way?" Frost said. "Maura. She's just got it, you know?"

What the actual hell was Jane suppose to say to that? How was Jane suppose to even process that kind information  _and_  come up with a response that was remotely appropriate?

Jane took a long sip of her beer to give herself a moment to think.

"I don't know, Frost. I mean she's one of my best friends, for Christssake!"

"I know. It's not like I'm going to make a move or anything, not any more," Frost said, shrugging as he finished off the last of his beer. "She's totally into someone else."

"Yeah?" Jane replied casually as possible, though she felt her heart rate spike as soon as Frost said it.

Either he knew more than Jane ever wanted anyone to know about her relationship with Maura, or Maura was crushing on some guy that was probably not good enough for her, or Frost knew about Kitty, who Maura was definitely way too good for. Regardless, Jane didn't like to hear what Frost was saying, not one bit.

"Who is it?" Jane asked, sounding more demanding and interested than she had intended.

"You," Frost said. "But I think you know that already."

Another brief pause hung between them. Frost at least had the decency to keep his eyes on the television as if they were still just having a casual conversation about anything.

"C'mon, Frost," Jane said, fidgeting with the label of her nearly empty bottle of beer to buy a few more seconds. "She's my friend. We're just friends. She's just my friend, a good friend, but, yeah, friends."

"Not for her, not with the way she looks at you when she thinks no one else is looking," Frost said.

"Yeah, and how's that?" Jane asked.

"Mostly like she's starving and you're a fine cut of filet mignon," Frost said.

"Oh my God!" Jane said, nearly choking on the beer she'd thought it safe to take a sip of. "Did you seriously just say that? Did you honestly imply that my best friend looks at me like she wants to _eat me_?"

"Didn't imply anything. I'm saying it," Frost said , grinning as he shrugged and put his nearly empty bottle on the table. "She wants you bad, but it's also like she adores you too. C'mon. You're one of Boston's finest. You telling me you seriously never noticed?"

"Well, I, I don't, I'm..." Jane stammered.

She was starting to get a little nervous about how much Frost might know about Jane's own feelings if he was so spot on in his observation of Maura. She did have a better poker face than Maura, but Frost was damn good at reading people, and he knew Jane well enough to pick up on her tells.

"Is that a yes or a no?" Frost asked in a very good imitation of his interrogation voice.

"Why do I feel like I'm suddenly in interrogation?" Jane asked.

Truth was, Jane was starting to realize that he'd been using subtle interrogation tactics all along. Misleading questions to gauge a person's reaction, casual mentions of a major development to catch the other party with their guard down. Damn Frost, that sneaky, smart little bastard.

Frost just grinned and reached for his bottle again.

"Is this conversation getting you a little hot under the collar, detective?" Frost asked with that same teasing smile on his lips.

"Oh, just shut up and watch the game, junior, or you get all the paperwork on Monday," Jane said.

And, like any good interrogator, Frost knew when to drop it, at least for a little while, until he knew Jane was so completely wrapped up in the game that she wouldn't get nearly as pissed off as she normally would.

"I think you should go for it," Frost said. "If it was me, there'd be no question."

"Go for what?" Jane asked without taking her eyes off of the television.

"Maura. If I knew for fact that she was as into me as she's into you, then I would definitely go for it," Frost said.

"But, Frost that's-oh, man c'mon, Travelling! That's travelling!" Jane complained before returning to the conversation, which Frost had conveniently chosen to start with the score tied and two minutes to play. "That's ridiculous. I work with her. I don't sleep with coworkers."

"Is that the only reason?" Frost asked.

"Huh?"

"Because if that's the only reason, then it's a pretty shitty one. There's no rule against it, especially since she's not an officer, just an advisement that no one takes seriously anyway," Frost said.

"But, I, Frost, I'm not," Jane said, turning to face him, her voice sounding strangled and nervous despite her best effort to remain calm as the conversation approached the area she'd managed to never mention with Frost.

"Hey, I'm not asking for details. Just saying that if you're even a little gay or bi, or anything but 100% straight, then you should go for it," Frost said. "Because that Maura, she's special. Doesn't come around too often that someone looks at you like that, all sexy and sweet."

"Yeah, I know," Jane said. The words were out before she could stop them, and they didn't come out in a way that she could play off as a casual remark. She'd sounded thoughtful, even dreamy. God, Jane hated that word, but there was no other way to describe it.

Jane looked at Frost, trying to read his reaction to her implicit revelation. He appeared completely unsurprised and smiled warmly.

"Call her," he said, nudging her shoulder. "I dare you."

"What are we, in sixth grade? No. Besides, she's on a date," Jane said.

"So you  _do_  know where she is," Frost replied.

"Not exactly. Some fancy fusion type place or something. I'm  _not_  going to call her while she's on a date," Jane said.

"Do the dispatch trick then," Frost said. "Works every time."

"Only problem with that is she gets hives and hyperventilates when she has to lie," Jane said. "Nope. Not doing it. Let her enjoy her food with  _Kitty_."

"Someone sounds a little resentful," Frost said, muting the TV as it went to commercial. Jane glared at him, but Frost shrugged and held out his cell phone. "C'mon, call her. She won't have to lie if she thinks it really is a dispatch."

"No."

"I know you want to," Frost said, shoving the phone into Jane's hand. "Just check see if the date's going well, and if it's no good, then she's got a dispatch. If it's good, then you were just calling to see how things are going. No harm, no bruises on that big Rizzoli ego."

"Shut up," Jane said. She flipped the phone open looked at it then shut it again before tossing it back to Frost. "No, I can't do it."

"Chicken," Frost said. "Never thought I'd see the day Jane Rizzoli would be afraid to do something."

"I am not afraid. I am so unafraid," Jane said, subconsciously rubbing her palm with her thumb. "And I'm not resentful. I just know Kitty, and she's a raging bitch. Maura could do a hundred times better."

"That doesn't sound resentful at all," Frost said.

"Damn right it's not," Jane muttered, turning back to the television to see that, with timeouts, only a minute had run off the clock.

"No, that's straight up jealousy," Frost said. "With a little bit of protectiveness, but mostly jealousy."

"Is not!" Jane said, realizing only after the words came out how lame they made her sound. It also came out about an octave above her normal voice, so it was abundantly clear to both of them that Jane was lying.

Frost raise his eyebrows and handed her the phone again.

"I don't know what is going on with you two, but there's something I don't know about here," Frost said. "And you need to sort it out."

"But-

"Call her," Frost said, placing the phone in Jane's hand again. "Unless you're scared?"

Jane groaned and looked down at the phone. She was not scared, and she was  _definitely_  not jealous of Kitty. Who the hell calls themselves Kitty anyway? Certainly not anyone that Maura would enjoy going on a date with, Jane thought.

She looked up at the television to see that the Celtics were all but assured a win, up by five points with the ball and fifteen seconds left on the clock.

No more excuses. Jane sighed heavily and flipped the phone open to dial Maura's number, a number she'd memorized long ago from dialing it so many times on her house phone when her cell wasn't nearby.

Jane kept eye contact with Frost the entire time she spoke on the phone. He smiled and winked when he realized that Jane was 'dispatching' Maura to the apartment and nearly ruined the whole damn thing when he almost laughed out loud at the pseudonym that Jane gave Maura. She just hoped Maura would get the inside joke about Juanita so she wouldn't be completely blindsided by their ruse.

After making sure that Jane really did send the text to Maura's cell, Frost took his coat from the back of the couch and pulled it on.

"Whoa, where you going?" Jane asked.

"Game's over. Figure I'll go catch a cab and head back, get some sleep," Frost said, smirking knowingly.

"Well, what am I suppose to do with her then? I thought you were gonna hang around," Jane said. She hoped Frost didn't sense the anxiety, the nervousness that settled in when Jane realized that she would have to be alone with Maura after the conversation she'd just had with Frost.

"You two hang out together all the time. Whatever you normally do," Frost said, with faux-innocence that even Maura could have easily detected.

"Yeah, but we've never hung out after having my partner tell me that my best female friend wants to affectionately eat me," Jane said.

"First of all, if you are a quarter of the detective I know you are, that information is not something you're just learning. Second, stop being such a wimp. I've seen you cope with a stab wound from a rusty knife better than this," Frost said as he zipped up his light, fall coat. "Third of all, keep the beer."

Before Jane could say anything more, Frost was opening the door. He'd almost shut the door behind him when Jane found her voice.

"Hey, Frost," Jane said. He turned to look at her. "Thanks."

Frost smiled and nodded. He knew. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he knew. If he had any doubt before, Jane knew put those doubts out of his mind with her parting words. She wanted to tell him, and that was the best way that Jane could think to communicate the information without having to say out loud that she returned Maura's feelings in equal measure.

It was the first time she'd ever acknowledged that to herself or anyone else, and it wasn't nearly as scary as she thought it would be. She was nervous, sure, but the good kind of nervous, the kind that gives a person a burst of energy rather than the kind that creates a wave of nausea.

"Any time, Rizzoli," he said. "And good luck getting the girl."

Jane didn't confirm or deny Frost's implication, instead opting to grin and pat him on the back before closing the door behind her partner.

 


	19. A Good Start

Maura knew where her GPS was sending her about a minute and a half into what ended up a fourteen minute drive. It only took two turns, one out of the parking lot and the other towards Storrow Drive for Maura to realize why the address was so familiar, why the dispatch felt off.

She was driving towards Jane's apartment.

Maura wondered how she hadn't recognized the address immediately, having been there so frequently. To her credit, Maura had never needed or asked for Jane's precise address, and, for the few times that Jane wasn't driving them to her place, Jane had used landmarks rather than street signs to give directions. Yes, that had to have been it. That, and the fact that Maura had been expecting the address would be the scene of a violent crime.

The thought startled Maura. What if Jane's apartment was the crime scene? What if...

Maura swallowed hard and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. A spike in her adrenaline production made Maura want to press down on the accelerator, but she was sitting at a red light, so that certainly would not do.

Maura had to remind herself that what if's were essentially useless and generally only produce undue regret and anxiety. As she usually did, Maura replaced the 'what if' with a recital of the facts.

Jane had called her work cell. She had asked about Maura's date and used a rudimentary code to obtain information about the date. After finding out that the date was a failure, Jane had mentioned a dispatch. And texted her own address to Maura.

The circumstances were bizarre, but not nearly as ominous as they'd seemed at first. To begin with, Maura hadn't been dispatched to the scene of Jane's murder, because Jane had called. Maura was also able to dismiss the idea that Jane was being held hostage in her own home because she hadn't been in any particular rush to request Maura's visit. And Maura sincerely doubted whether Jane would take the time to stall, ask about her date, deliver a dispatch, then take the few extra minutes to type out her address instead of simply telling Maura to meet at Jane's place.

The thought that Jane had killed someone in self-defense at her own apartment flitted across Maura's mind and subjected her to another brief burst of anxiety. But many of the arguments against the hostage scenario applied to that situation. Nothing about Jane's casual approach to the phone call or her cheerful tone as they ended the call suggested that Jane had a dead body lying somewhere in her apartment.

Maura loosened her grip on the steering wheel as she realized that, in all likelihood, Jane was not in any immediate danger. Jane's demeanor hadn't been what Maura knew the detective's demeanor would be in the situation. Normally, making such judgments gave Maura pause, but this was not a guess as much as a well-informed opinion based on intimate, personal knowledge of Jane's shifts in vocal inflect during times of crisis.

The fact still remained, as Maura inched forward in traffic towards the turn down Jane's street, that Jane had called, asked about the date, and dispatched Maura to her own apartment using a strangely familiar code name.

The code name. Now that was another oddly familiar bit of information. What could Jane have meant by it? Juanita Clementine, it felt so familiar...Then it hit her. Juanita, it had been the pseudonym that Maura had given Jane's mother on the cruise. There was no dispatch.

The whole conversation had been a ruse, a way to first determine if Maura needed rescuing, then give her an out. And Jane had accomplished it all without putting Maura into a position where she would be forced to lie. Maura believed what she said to Kitty when she said it, so there was no danger of an adverse physical reaction.

Of course, it would have been ideal had she not been lied to. But Maura also preferred being temporarily misled to spending another thirty minutes in Kitty's company. And she appreciated that Jane had managed to find a way to give her that opportunity without the risk of triggering a vasovagal episode.

No, Maura couldn't feel put out by Jane's misdirect, not for any length of time. The lie had not been a hurtful one, and Jane had even included Maura in it, given her enough clues to the point that Maura felt a part of the ruse. For once in her life, Maura wasn't left out of the loop.

On top of that, Jane had given Maura the way out that Maura had been hoping to get earlier in the day. She was late, but Jane finally did pull through like Jane always managed to when it came to Maura.

Maura finally got to Jane's apartment building and, after taking a few minutes to carefully parallel park her car, she pulled the keys out of the ignition and sat with her hands resting lightly on the steering wheel.

She took a deep breath, letting a small grin ghost across her lips as she flicked the car mirror down and ran a hand through her hair while doing a quick check of her makeup. Maura quickly finished the ritual when she happened to see Melissa, Jane's neighbor, approach the door to the building. The ME stepped out of the car, locked the doors, and followed Melissa into the building.

* * *

It only took a few seconds for Jane to open the door after Maura knocked. Jane realized a second too late that it was probably pretty clear that she'd been waiting by the door, or really just pacing in the vicinity. Maura didn't say anything to indicate that she had any suspicions though. Instead, she looked Jane up and down, as if she hadn't quite expected to find Jane dressed as she was.

Jane was not by any means dressed up, but she wasn't dressed down in the sweats and baggy tshirt that Jane usually favored for her nights in and had in fact worn during her TV watching time with Frost. The detective wore a fitted green tshirt and the only pair of jeans in Jane's closet that Maura had deemed fashionable. That detail hadn't been an accident; if she was going to do this thing right, then Jane thought she should at least look presentable by Maura's standards.

If Maura made any judgment on the acceptability of Jane's clothing, she didn't let on as much. The woman smiled at Jane, but Jane could not for the life of her read the smile. It was soft and friendly and welcoming, sure, but that was the standard issue, everyday Maura smile.

Jane smiled back, hoping it wouldn't look like the nervous smile that it most definitely was.

"Please tell me you did not kill somebody and call me to cover it up," Maura said, the traces of that smile still on her lips. So she'd clearly caught on to the ruse. This was Maura using some of the humor she'd picked up from Jane to alleviate the tension that built with each passing moment.

Sincerely relieved, Jane smiled and rolled her eyes as she moved aside to let Maura in.

"No, and if I did, I wouldn't call the only person that I know who cannot lie," Jane said, sitting on the couch and tucking her legs underneath her. "Even if she is my best friend."

Maura beamed at the last part, and Jane knew that she'd just paid Maura compliment that no one had ever thought to pay her. That part of Maura history always mystified Jane, because the woman was so warm and caring that it was hard to understand why she wouldn't have a ton of friends. Jane at least took some comfort in the fact that she seemed to make up for it now.

"C'mon, sit down," Jane continued, the hint of a smile still on her lips.

* * *

Maura sat where Jane had gestured for her to sit, a spot next to Jane on a sofa that could hold four people comfortably. Maura tucked her small purse off to her side so that her conversation with Jane would be completely unobstructed.

"You look good," Jane said.

"Thank you," Maura said. She felt a blush begin to rise in her cheeks and noticed a faint blush creep up Jane's cheeks as well. Jane looked away for a second, then back at Maura as she rested her elbow on the back of the couch and propped her head on her hand.

"Want some wine?" Jane asked after a few seconds, leaning towards the table to retrieve a glass of red wine that Maura hadn't seen when she first sat down. Probably something to do with the fact that she'd been preoccupied admiring the fit of Jane's jeans as she followed her friend to the sofa. "It's the stuff you like, but a little less obscenely expensive."

Maura took the glass and nodded, the hint of a smile at the corner of her lips.

"Very thoughtful of you, detective," Maura said. "This is just what I needed."

"Glad I could be of service then," Jane said. Maura took another sip while simply looking at Jane. Actually, Maura thought, gazing might have been a more accurate verb for what she found herself doing without having made a conscious decision to do so.

There was just something different about Jane tonight, something softer, less guarded in the way she spoke to and looked at Maura, but, now that they were settled in, Maura could tell in her mannerisms that she had something to say, something apparently very important.

"So no second date with Kitty?"

"Not a chance," Maura said, tucking her own legs under her and facing Jane so that their knees were almost touching. "She's very...

"Bitchy?"

"I was going to say unpleasant, but that will do as well, I guess," Maura said. "I won't be losing any sleep over it though. What have you been doing?"

"Frost," Jane said. Maura raised her eyebrows and Jane quickly realized her mistake. "Not _doing_ him. I mean, obviously not. No. Like, just hanging out with him. Watching basketball and talking. Bonding."

There was a brief pause during which Maura normally would have taken the opportunity to respond, but she sensed Jane wasn't finished with her thought, so Maura waited an extra few seconds, letting a silence settle over the room.

"But mostly," Jane said slowly, deliberately even, "I've been sitting here watching a basketball game and yelling at shitty free throw shooters and even worse refs because I got all of this unresolved tension tonight from, you know, all kinds of stuff."

"That is a very common practice among avid sports fans. There is a tendency to project hopes, frustrations and fear of failure onto the team of choice. Many fans even begin to integrate the team as a crucial part of their identity, so feeling tension during a close game is not uncommon," Maura said. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Jane leaned back into the cushions of the sofa and sighed. So, apparently Maura had missed something, because Jane only sighed like that when she realized that she needed to change her approach to the conversation.

"You know what, I'm just going to spit it out," Jane said finally. "He knows. Frost knows."

"Knows what?"

"About us," Jane said. "Frost knows about us."

* * *

Maura took a long drink from her glass and placed it back on the table. Maura was usually pretty expressive with Jane, which, as a rule, made her easy to read. But the M.E. could also shut down and make it very difficult to get a good read, and this was one of those times.

"You told him?" Maura asked, a calm, polite question with a hint of surprise laced in there.

"He guessed, mostly," Jane said.

To Jane's surprise, Maura looked even more shocked at that information.

"He guessed that we had a week-long sexual relationship a month before working together and have spent the entirety of our work relationship actively attempt to maintain a strictly platonic relationship?" Maura asked.

Well it was no wonder Maura seemed so surprised. Even if Jane and Maura were pretty obvious around Frost, that level of detail in Frost's knowledge would have involved some very impressive detective work.

"Not exactly," Jane said, shifting her legs to find a more comfortable position. She hadn't intended to tell Maura about the conversation, but it became her backup plan when Jane realized that her story about the basketball game, meant to be a set up for her confession of jealousy, wasn't having the intended effect. So Jane was a little antsy, both about going off script and in admitting to the conversation.

"He just knows that we've got a thing for each other. Well, he knows that you think I'm hot, but I'm pretty sure he can tell the feeling's mutual," Jane finished.

The only response that Jane got from Maura was a murmured "oh." Jane suddenly saw what Maura was doing. She was trying to follow Jane's lead; Maura didn't know how to treat the news, so she was waiting for a cue, a hint on how she ought to react to the information, and Jane hadn't been giving Maura the same cues she usually gave the doctor with her naturally expressive personality. That had been muted by Jane's nervousness, her sense of the importance of the moment and of every little thing she did.

"And I was think that I really don't mind. Him knowing. People knowing," Jane said.

"Really?" Maura replied.

Although Maura response was almost as brief as her previous one, this one wasn't nearly as difficult for Jane to decipher. Her eyes brightened and Jane could tell that she was trying not to smile. Also, the fact that Maura rested her hand on Jane's knee as she said it was kind of a dead giveaway.

"Yep," Jane said. She shifted the arm that she'd left resting on the back of the couch so that her hand rested right by Maura's elbow and her thumb brushed against Maura's arm. "And it got me thinking about something else."

"What might that be?" Maura asked, tracing an abstract pattern with her forefinger on Jane's knee. A gesture as tender and soft as it was suggestive, the same intriguing blend of qualities that Maura herself seemed to possess from the first time they met.

It was encouraging to say the least.

"Well," Jane said. "Put it this way. It got me thinking about something, about the time we went shopping at that super expensive clothes store with your buddy Millie."

Maura scrunched her eyebrows together in that adorably confused face that she made when Jane's train of thought jumped the tracks. The confusion didn't stop Maura from edging closer to Jane so that their legs touched and, by default, Jane's hand rested further up Maura's arm than before.

"I'm not sure if I follow," Maura said. "Are you referring to my insinuation that we were a couple?"

"No, not that," Jane said patiently. She looked directly at Maura and, for the first time in their Boston relationship, gave Maura her best flirty smile. "I'm talking about that favor you still owe me."

"Quite the memory, you have," Maura said. "How can I be of service to you, detective?"

God, that woman really had such a sexy way of talking. People had told Jane that she had a naturally sexy voice, but Jane had never done anything special with it. Maura, on the other hand, she spoke with such precision and knew just how to emphasize certain words. Maura had the sexiest voice Jane had ever heard when the doctor aimed to turn the sexy on high. And boy, was she turning it on high.

Jane swallowed to regain her composure when memories of Maura's sexy voice in bed came flooding back without warning.

"I was thinking a kiss," Jane said, breaking the intense eye contact to look at Maura's lips. "I think then we'd be even."

"You think so?" Maura repiled, moving closer.

Jane could only nod.

"I can only foresee one problem," Maura said, removing her hand from Jane's knee only to maneuver so that she could straddle Jane's lap as effectively as the couch allowed.

"What might that be?" Jane asked, resting her hands on Maura's hips.

She had an excellent view of Maura's cleave down her fancy vneck shirt. But the detective didn't spend too much time looking at that, because Maura was there, on top of Jane, and Jane had somehow managed to forget how sexy Maura was from that angle. Now that Jane remembered, it was impossible to forget.

"The only problem would be," Maura said. "That I don't think I could stop at just kissing."

Jane had every intention of responding with actual words, a coherent sentence even, but something else happened, and Jane hadn't a clue how they started kissing, but they were, without a doubt, kissing. Maura kissed Jane, Jane kissed Maura, they kissed each other, all three seemed to happen all at once in a kiss that was so hard and fast and overwhelming that Jane didn't know what to think, or even how to think of anything but Maura and her tongue and her body and just... _her_.

What Jane had with Maura was electricity, shocking, white-hot electricity, and Jane knew Maura was right. There was no possible way this would ever stop with one kiss.

And that was one thing that didn't bother Jane one bit. Jane smiled into the kiss.

"What?" Maura asked. She was out of breath and had only pulled away enough to speak that one word before returning briefly to the kissing. "You happy?"

"Mmm," Jane murmured. "Happy."

Maura pulled away a little further enough so that she could look down at Jane, who was now lying on the couch as Maura straddled her. Maura laughed.

"We're turned each other into cavewomen, Jane," Maura said. "Incapable of uttering a complete, grammatically correct sentence."

"Well," Jane said as she raised an eyebrow. "It's kind of hard with someone else's tongue in your mouth."

Maura rested a hand on Jane's cheek and smiled that sexy, adoring smile that Frost had been talking about. Then she kissed Jane again, just as hard and passionate as before. The mix of soft tenderness and hard kisses was enough to make Jane moan into Maura's mouth.

"Maura?" Jane said, staying close enough so that their foreheads touched.

"Yes?" Maura replied, her breath coming quick against Jane's cheek.

"Jane want less clothes," Jane said.

Maura smirked and sat up. She pulled her shirt off and let it drop to the floor.

"Better?"

"Good start," Jane said, sitting up so that she could get Maura on her back for the first time that night. She leaned down next to Maura's ear and kissed the most sensitive spot on Maura's neck just below the ear. "A very good start."


	20. Comprehension and Control

Maura couldn't remember the kissing being this way on vacation. Maybe it was months of pent up sexual tension, but there was something so different in this kiss that Maura couldn't place. It still had the same physical properties of most of the vacation kisses; it was hard and passionate, their tongues moved against each other in the same ways. Jane's hands moved under Maura's shirt with the same impatience, even in the same pattern as the last time they'd slept together.

Despite all that, there was something different, something more than she'd anticipated. She'd expected the intensely pleasant physical reaction, the breathlessness, the urge to touch Jane as much as humanly possible, but Maura hadn't expected to feel anything more than that. And she was certainly feeling it, getting the sense that this was way more than a purely physical attraction.

Maura was also just realizing that the scene was actually quite romantic. Jane's apartment had never had exceptionally bright lighting even though Jane had developed a habit of leaving every single light on after leaving a room. Now Jane had only the necessary lights on in the living room, which seemed to soften the edges around everything. It was the kind of soft lighting that one would aspire to for a casual, romantic evening in.

This wasn't the type of any-available-surface-will-do sexual encounter. There was care and intentionality here, in the way the apartment was lit, in the way that Jane had Maura's favorite wine, in Jane's way of gently moving a strand of hair aside in order to kiss Maura's neck.

It made sense, it made perfect sense that, now that she and Jane had such a close relationship, there would be additional attraction, even emotion, in their kissing. It made perfect sense, was a perfectly logical way to feel. But Maura still couldn't figure it, couldn't figure out why, as she kissed Jane, everything felt so overpoweringly, wonderfully intense that it was beyond comprehension or control.

While it felt wonderful beyond words to finally be kissing Jane again, the lack of comprehension and control startled Maura. Those were two things that Maura had always maintained in life and her sexual relationships, but Jane had a way of effortlessly turning that on it's head.

"Bed now?" Jane whispered right next to Maura's ear. It was enough to pull Maura entirely back into the moment.

Maura nodded.

Jane smiled against the skin of Maura's neck and sat up abruptly. Maura barely had time to wonder what the sudden movement apart could mean when Jane bent at the knees and picked Maura up like she was a small child, not a fully grown, 128.2 pound woman.

"Jane! What are you doing?" Maura said, instinctively wrapping her arms around Jane's neck for balance.

"Cave Jane want to take you take you to her bed and have my way with you," Jane said, already moving towards her bedroom.

"First of all, that sentence was a syntactical, grammatical mess," Maura said, though she smiled at Jane's continuation of the cave-woman joke. "Secondly, I have two, fully functional legs, which would have transported me to _Cave Jane's_ bed with far more efficiency."

"Mmm, you're so sexy when you talk about syntax and transportation efficiency," Jane said, moving towards her bedroom. "I think I'm definitely going to have to get you to Cave Jane's bed immediately."

Maura didn't resist Jane's method even though she easily could have gotten free of Jane's grasp. She actually found that she still had her arms wrapped tightly around Jane's neck, holding her body close to Jane's even though she'd still regained her balance after the initial surprised.

It reminded her yet again of how different this whole thing felt than the last time they'd been in bed together. Maura left her arms where they were, wrapped around Jane not out of any sort of necessity, but because she wanted to feel cozy and comfy and close to Jane. It was far less out of pure sexual attraction than just that closeness Maura felt to Jane, the comfort she felt in Jane's arms.

Then, as Jane put Maura down on the bed, it hit Maura like it hadn't before. This sex was going to be so entirely different from anything she'd ever experienced with Jane in either their platonic or sexual relationship.

It was all so dizzyingly, overwhelmingly real and intense to be topless, making out with Jane in Jane's apartment, and now on Jane's bed, feeling things that were not strictly related to her physical response to Jane's groping and kissing. It was all so much that it almost felt like too much to process.

Maura just needed a little bit of time to adjust to the new dynamic of the relationship. She need to slow down.

But that slowdown would require a Herculean feat of self-control, because Jane, after setting Maura on the bed, got to work trailing kisses down Maura's neck as her hand rested on Maura's chest, which was still inconveniently covered by a bra.

"Jane," Maura sighed.

"You like?"

"Jane," Maura said, resting a hand on Jane's chin and guiding the detective's lips toward her own. She gave Jane a lingering kiss. "We've got to slow this down."

"Really? Why?" Jane said in the voice that Jane insisted wasn't whiny, though Maura often had to disagree on that point. It was clear that Jane was trying not to complain or sound impatient, but Maura knew Jane speaking pattern well enough to recognize a bit of understandable impatience.

"Because, just, because I said so," Maura said, unsure of how exactly to explain her reasoning.

"Well," Jane said, remaining in the same spot on top of Maura with only a few inches between their faces. "Ok, um, how slow are we talking here? I'm not pressuring or anything, just confused. I mean taking it slow has never been our thing."

"That's true," Maura said, resting a hand on Jane's lower back. "But it feels different now."

Jane hesitated for a long few seconds, biting her lower lip as she looked in to Maura's eyes, then down to her lips and back to Maura's eyes.

"It kinda does, huh?" Jane replied. "Not bad, really."

"Not at all," Maura said, letting her fingers sneak up under Jane's t-shirt despite her earlier resolution to resist that temptation while they were talking.

Jane gave Maura a soft, short kiss, nothing steamy or sexual, just an expression of affection.

"What are we going to do about it?" Jane asked.

"Cuddle?" Maura replied, realizing that she was pushing it with the suggestion, because Jane had often insisted that she was not a fan of the invasion of her personal space. So she added for Jane's benefit, "and occasional kissing."

"Cuddling and kissing it is, then," Jane said. She stood up from her spot on top of Maura, and put her hand out to help Maura up. "Where?"

"Here," Maura said, moving over to make a space for Jane on what she knew was Jane's side of the bed. "I'll watch whatever you want on television and we can cuddle and kiss. And grope if we find we really can't control ourselves."

"Groping now too, huh?" Jane asked as she grabbed the television remote from her nightstand and clicked the power button. An image of one of the local weather men popped onto the screen, but Jane just pressed the mute button before taking her spot on the bed next to Maura. She kissed Maura for a few seconds, even copping a feel that had Maura pulling Jane closer. Jane pulled away and grinned. "Let's not get crazy now, Doctor Isles."

Maura rolled her eyes and moved so that her arm draped across Jane's stomach and her chin rested on Jane's shoulder.

"Just be glad I'm still topless," Maura said as she planted a kiss on Jane's neck.

Jane sighed emphatically in a way that Maura knew was intentionally exaggerated for comedic effect. Once she'd spent enough time with Jane, observing minutia of Jane's behavior, Maura found that Jane's humor, even the sarcasm, was relatively easy to pick up on; Jane, a creature of habit, had a handful of micro-expressions and gestures that she often relied on. The exaggerated sigh was one of those things.

"I guess we've got to be grateful for the little things in life," Jane said, letting her hand wander to Maura's chest.

"I'd beg to differ," Maura said as she allowed Jane to move so that Jane was now on top.

"Yeah?" Jane asked, a hint of amusement in her voice and a soft smile on her lips. "How so?"

"My breasts are not little things. They're actually slightly above average for my height and weight," Maura said.

"Yeah, no, they're great," Jane said. "Phenomenal actually. Well above average in terms of quality for sure."

"You want to know something else about them?" Maura replied, smiling flirtatiously as she pushed Jane's shirt up in order to touch more of Jane's skin.

"I'd love to know more about your breasts," Jane said, moving against Maura, really just shift her weight, but the movement still felt wonderfully stimulating because Jane's leg now rested between Maura's legs.

"I, they're," Maura said as she pulled Jane's shirt up even further. "They can be very responsive. Given the right kind of attention."

"Good to know," Jane said, sitting up and pulling her own shirt over her head. "Thought I'd help you out with that."

Maura opened her mouth to protest, but Jane kissed her instead.

"No more than that, I promise," Jane said. "Just thought I'd level the playing field. You topless and me with all my clothes on. That's hardly a fair fight. I totally had it harder than you."

Maura laughed and pulled Jane's lips back down to hers because that felt like the only suitable way to convey the affection that Maura felt for Jane in that moment.

"And now we're even," Maura said, resting her hands on the back of Jane's head and pulling Jane's head down for another, longer kiss.

* * *

Maura had been right. Granted, Maura was pretty much always right, but, Jane thought, she'd been even more right than usual this time around. This time in bed with Maura felt different, less desperate, but somehow more intense. Physically, Maura had always been able to satisfy Jane, but the emotional part was something that Jane had never been interested in, not with Maura or anyone else. Not for a solid two years or so.

But Maura snuck up Jane, and without even knowing what she was doing to Jane. With that characteristic obliviousness to her own charms, Maura had managed to make kissing something more than kissing and touching something more than fingers on bare skin.

It was scary. But Jane had always liked scary, especially this kind of scary, the kind that comes from fear that a feeling might stop, because being in Maura's arms felt too good to ever stop.

It felt so good that Jane didn't even mind that she only managed to get them both down to bra and underwear. Jane suspected that Maura would have done a lot more with just a little bit of persuasion, but where they were was somehow enough for the moment; they'd done the 'let's rip each others clothes off as quickly as possible' thing for an entire week on vacation. Now, Jane could see the benefit of moving with care, of taking baby steps because what was happening felt a lot bigger and more significant than a vacation quickie.

So they'd found their way under the covers, never paying too much attention to what had turned into a late night infomercial for teeth whitener. And now Jane found herself snuggled against Maura even though she'd swear up and down to anyone who asked that she hated girly things like snuggling up with someone. She'd still deny it in the morning, but, at the moment, she loved snuggling. Jane could and probably would later blame it on the fact that she was drifting closer and closer to sleep with each passing moment, but she'd also liked the cuddling just fine when she was fully conscious too.

Maura seemed to be dozing too. But Jane knew she was still awake, because she did this adorable, soothing thing where she traced slow, lazy patterns on Jane's back as she wrapped her arms around the detective. Jane wondered if it was even a conscious thing, but didn't dare ask. To start with she didn't want it to stop, and then there was the part where Maura looked so peaceful and calm that Jane wouldn't dare rouse her.

Jane leaned forward, brushed a strand of hair aside and gave Maura a kiss on the cheek. Maura stirred and turned to face Jane, her eyes still closed.

Jane wouldn't have been able to tell if Maura was asleep but for the hint of a smile on Maura's lips.

"Night, Maura," Jane whispered.

"Goodnight, Jane," Maura whispered back.

Jane smiled, snuggled closer, and let herself slip into a cozy, comfortable sleep.


	21. Wardrobe Woes

Jane had never been a morning person. She liked to go to bed late and sleep even later on her days off, and not even Maura's suggestion that Jane maintain a regular sleeping schedule even on days off had done anything to change that.

For that reason, Jane was surprised when she woke and looked at the alarm clock to see that it was only 7:53 am. It wasn't the light coming in through the window, because the curtains were pretty much pulled shut. It wasn't too hot or too cold, Jane thought vaguely as she closed her eyes and pulled the sheet up over her shoulder. She was perfectly comfortable, and yet she was up at an unreasonably early hour when she could have spent at least an hour or two longer in bed with Maura.

Speaking of which, Jane decided to roll over and snuggle against Maura. That would surely make her comfortable enough to fall asleep in short order. But all Jane felt when she rested her arm on Maura's side of the bed was a pillow and cool sheets.

Jane opened her eyes and looked at the pillow, as if to make sure she wasn't just imagining things. Jane sighed and rolled back over on her back, her eyes still closed. So it was going to be that kind of thing for Maura. That must have been why she stopped things from going further, because she planned to slip out of bed in the middle of the night and try to act like nothing happened. Jane didn't know why she'd expected any different, especially not with how their relationship started on vacation. It'd been stupid to think that they could have a remotely functional relationship come out of those circumstances.

Jane opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling and let her hand fall heavily on the mattress next to her.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Maura's voice came from the other side of the room, by Jane's dresser. "I have a minor wardrobe issue."

Jane sat up quickly and looked in Maura's direction. The woman was still wearing just a bra and underwear and stood by Jane's open dresser, which held an assortment of shirts and pantsuits. Maura hadn't done anything with her hair, so it still had the sexy, tousled look it had when they'd fallen asleep.

Jane couldn't help breaking out in a huge smile. Not only was Maura still there, but making herself very much at home in Jane's bedroom. Apparently she was comfortable enough to walk around nearly naked, and that gave Jane a little extra happiness, because it reminded Jane of how damn lucky she was to have that woman with her sexy body, minor wardrobe issues and all.

"What are you smiling at?" Maura asked. Although she still looked distressed at whatever wardrobe malfunction was plaguing her, Maura offered Jane a small, bemused smile.

"Nothing," Jane said, pushing the hair out of her face with one and patting the spot in bed next to her. "C'mere and tell me all about your wardrobe woes."

"Pleasing as your alliteration is, that kind of distraction will not help matters," Maura said, though she was moving towards the bed.

"But I'm such a good listener," Jane said as Maura rested on her side of the bed with her body turned towards Jane.

"Yes, but being in bed with you in our current state of undress can only make matters worse," Maura said. "I don't have any unwrinkled clothing to wear, and I'd really rather my undergarments stay intact."

Jane slide down so that she was lying on her side facing Maura. She ran a finger down the side of Maura's arm and enjoyed the level of distraction it drove Maura to. Maura would have probably gone on much longer about wrinkled clothes, one of her most frequently professed pet peeves. Instead she just ended her brief monologue with an exaggerated sigh.

"Life must be so very difficult for you," Jane said, leaning over to kiss Maura soundly, a kiss that Maura returned with equal enthusiasm. "Guess you'll just have to stay the way you are. Unless, of course, you want to take everything else off. Just to make sure it doesn't get ruined, of course."

"Oh, yes, of course. And would be the only reason you would suggest something like that?" Maura asked teasingly.

"Well, I mean, there are some fringe benefits," Jane said, grinning into another, longer kiss. She shifted her body so that she was fully on top of Maura with her leg rested between Maura's legs. That particular move, Jane discovered, had the benefit of both giving Jane even more skin on skin contact and getting a soft, sexy sigh out of Maura.

"You see, this is exactly what I knew would happen," Maura said, before pulling Jane down for another kiss. "I'm very easily distracted by you."

Jane did not bother to respond, opting instead to kiss Maura before the other woman could refocus on her wardrobe dilemma. It worked, and Maura was so receptive that she had Jane on her back in one, quick motion. Maura might have been smaller than Jane, but she was deceptively strong and flexible when the situation called for it. Jane allowed Maura to take the dominant position even though she normally didn't like to give up the control, at least not with anyone else. But for Jane there was something so hot about being on her back looking up at Maura, feeling the weight of Maura's body pressed against hers, resting her hands on Maura's hips, pressing her closer. Jane wouldn't even think to change their position for a second, not when Maura was kissing in the way she was, a combination of light, teasing kisses with the hard, passionate ones.

Jane was so thoroughly enjoying herself that she didn't even here the door to her apartment open. Or the heavy, quick footsteps across the apartment toward her door. She only vaguely registered the sound of her door opening as background noise. And she only pulled away from Maura when she her someone speaking.

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli! How many times do I have to tell you to answer your-

Angela stopped short in the doorway the moment she registered the scene in front of her.

Maura recognized the interruption a split second before Jane had, and moved with impressive speed off of Jane and onto her side of the bed. Jane sat bolt upright directly in front of Maura in hopes that Angela would not have the wherewithal to recognize Maura from the cruise. Even if she'd intended to tell her mother about Maura at some point, Jane did not think this particularly humiliating moment would be ideal.

The situation was so absurdly, ridiculously awkward that, for a split second, Jane was one hundred percent sure that it had to be a dream. No way, not a few hours after actually acting on the sexual tension with Maura, was Jane's mother standing in her bedroom having walked in when Jane was pretty sure she'd been about ten seconds from getting Maura's panties off.

That particular bit of wishful thinking was cut short when Angela spoke again.

"Jane, I'd like to speak with you," Angela said, then added decisively before leaving the room. "Now, please."

Jane sat perfectly still for a moment, looking at the spot where her mother had been standing as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just transpired. After a few seconds, Jane sighed, got up, and grabbed her robe from a hook on the back of her bedroom door. She pulled the robe and tied it tightly around her waist.

She gave Maura a quick kiss and put on what she hoped resembled a smile. Maura did the same and rested her hand on Jane's shoulder in a show of support, probably because it was all so bizarre that she had no idea what to say.

"I'll be right back," Jane said with that same forced smile, though she wasn't sure if that was true, given her mother's tendency to get carried away when she got on a roll.

Jane then headed directly out to the living room where her mother was surely waiting.

* * *

After Jane left the room, Maura remained sitting on the bed. She sat with knees pulled up in front of her and rested her chin on her knees. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but she wanted to think, and slightly uncomfortable positions tended to allow her to stay alert enough for critical thought. That was the very reason she had a hard, metal chair in her morgue for observers instead of the plush one that the last ME had left.

All that aside, Maura wasn't sure what to make of what had transpired in the thirty minutes since she had realized that Jane was awake. There were elements to their conversation entirely unrelated to Angela that puzzled Maura.

First there was Jane's face when she realized that Maura was in the room. It'd been a nice, wonderful even, to have someone so happy to see her, but it wasn't just the smile that Maura noticed. She'd noted in Jane's micro-expression that Maura's continued presence in the room came as a genuine surprise. Had Jane assumed that Maura would leave without saying goodbye? Unless she'd badly misread the previous night's events, Maura could not make much sense of why Jane would think that.

It wasn't something that Maura was overly concerned about, a minor curiosity in what was otherwise a very pleasant morning after experience leading up to Angela's appearance. Maura loved that Jane had managed to alleviate Maura's wardrobe concerns in a way that was teasing without being belittling or mean.

Which reminded Maura of the fact that her minor wardrobe problem was now a major one if she had any hope of leaving the apartment to give Jane and her mother some privacy, which she really,  _really_  wanted to do. Even if she wanted to wear the wrinkled shirt from the previous night, Maura couldn't get it without walking by Mrs. Rizzoli in nothing but her undergarments. Jane had taken the only robe in the room, and it would be very obvious, given Jane's distinctive style of dress, if Maura decided to wear Jane's clothing home. Maura suspected Angela might not take too kindly to that either, given the fact that it was a visual reminder of the fact that Maura had been nearly naked in Jane's bed with her tongue in Jane's mouth.

So she was stuck in Jane's room, sitting on Jane's bed trying to make up her mind on how to process Angela and her demeanor. Angela had been angry when she first entered the room, but Mrs. Rizzoli had shown sudden restraint when it became clear what she and Jane were doing.

What was not at all clear though was whether or not Angela recognized Maura. The whole encounter had lasted only about twenty seconds maximum, and Maura guessed she'd only been in full view of Angela for about two or three of those seconds before Jane sat in front of her.

Had Angela been sober on their first meeting, Maura thought she would have made the connection without issue. Particularly if their second meeting had occurred in a less compromising position. The fact that the situation was highly unexpected and unusual could have briefly slowed Angela's ability to process all the information the scene presented.

Maura sighed, hoping that her well-reasoned conclusion was not clouded by wishful thinking. For something to do, she got up to look in Jane's closet again, sliding a few more hangers over until she came across the black dress Millie had sold them. Then an idea struck her. This dress was so unlike anything Jane would normally wear that Mrs. Rizzoli would never be the wiser. Of course, it would be a bit tighter around the chest and a little longer than intended, but the dress would do just right for the brief span of time she needed order to get by Angela.

Maura carefully slipped the dress of its hanger and started to step into it. Just as soon as she was dressed and presentable, Maura would stand by the door and wait until she could determine an ideal time to leave. She could have just as easily stayed hiding in Jane's room, but the lack of activity, the sense that she was, more or less, trapped, made Maura uneasy. So she'd make her great escape as soon as possible.


	22. Surprising Circumstances

"What was that, ma?" Jane demanded as soon as she saw her mother, who had apparently just taken it upon herself to start making some coffee. "I only gave you that key in case of emergency, ma! I mean, what are you even doing here?"

"I really don't think you're the one that should be demanding answers," Angela said as she pressed the power button on the coffee pot. She didn't seem livid or anything, though she did seemed a little flustered. But that was understandable, so Angela's demeanor gave Jane very few hints on where this was going. "But if you really need to know, I tried calling you last night and twice this morning and got no answer. No answer when I knocked on the door either. The last time something like that happened you were in the hospital. So, yes, I was a little concerned. But I definitely did not expect to find you...in that position."

"First of all, it was just a broken nose that time. More importantly, it's not like I was having sex on the couch in your living room right when I knew you were going to be home! I was in  _my_  apartment, in  _my_  bedroom, kissing someone in  _my_  bed with every reason to believe that I would not be having any unannounced visitors bursting through my door like Seal team 6," Jane said.

"And I'm not denying any of that," Angela said, firmly, but with an evenness that Jane rarely associated with her mother. Angela took a breath and exhaled slowly. "I'm talking about the... surprising circumstances. The fact that my being here needs a lot less explanation and is a lot less surprising than what I just walked in on."

Well, Angela was right on one thing there; there was nothing surprising about her decision to use an emergency key for early morning check ups on her 30 year old cop daughter. And as much as Jane hated to admit it, her job caused Angela a lot of stress and anxiety, which, Jane thought, was probably a contributing factor to her annoying, nosy over-protectiveness. So Jane could understand her mother's explanation, which took a little bit of the edge off. Because Angela was not  _completely_  wrong on this one.

Jane folded her arms in front of her and leaned against the counter across from Angela so that she faced her mother, unsure of what to say. She couldn't look her mother in the eye for a few long seconds, instead watching the coffee drip into the coffee pot just to Angela's left.

Angela was actually composed by Angela standards, especially considering what had just happened. Jane couldn't read anything beyond that though. She could not for the life of her pick up on any hints about her mother's feelings on the 'circumstances', and Jane wondered briefly if this was how Maura felt when she had a hard time reading people, this paralyzing uncertainty about what to do and say next. It was frustrating as hell, and Jane had a new appreciation for the way that Maura worked through those difficulties on a daily basis.

Jane just wished her mother would say something, anything. Because Jane sure as hell didn't know where to start.

But it had turned into something like a mini-standoff. Angela standing there waiting for Jane to explain what had just happened, Jane standing there waiting for Angela elaborate on how she felt about the 'surprising circumstances.' Neither budged for a few long seconds.

Angela folded her arms over her chest in a pose that mirrored Jane's, tilting her head as if she was about to speak.

The coffee pot finally beeped. Angela turned around and poured coffee into two cups, making one black for herself and adding a dash of creamer and two spoonfuls of sugar to Jane's coffee before holding it out to her daughter. She moved slowly, like she was stalling for time.

Jane took the coffee mug and held it between her hands. Angela took a sip before speaking.

"You know," Angela said before taking another sip. "She's a lovely woman."

"What? What do you mean?" Jane stammered.

"When I met her. On vacation. I thought Maura was a lovely woman," Angela said simply.

"I thought, I mean, you said you couldn't remember too much from that night. You couldn't even remember her name," Jane said. "You kept calling her Laura!"

Angela sighed and rolled her eyes as she put the coffee cup on the counter next to her. She looked directly at Jane, which forced direct eye contact for the first time in the conversation.

"I lied, Janie. It was easier at the moment to pretend that I didn't remember seeing you check out her ass as she walked away just fifteen minutes after overhearing you two in the bathroom," Angela said.

"Ma!" Jane said, feeling the color rise from her neck up to her cheeks. "You, what, you saw that? You were looking at the fishes, ma. You even named 'em. Told me all of them on the way back. You couldn't have seen that."

"A mother, even a drunk one, has eyes in the back of her head, Janie," Angela said cryptically.

"Yeah and apparently supersonic hearing too," Jane said, unfolding her arms and pointing accusingly at her mother. "Speaking of, how did you hear that? No way you just happen to overhear a conversation through the wall with that kind of music on."

"I, I," Angela hesitated and Jane raised her eyebrows. "I may have listened. Used the empty highball glass against the wall to see what I could hear. Must have been really thin walls and I think I was probably right where you were standing because I could hear almost everything."

"Ma!"

"I thought she was going to be sick!" Angela said defensively. "I was curious."

"So you listened through the wall to see if you could hear a woman you'd just met puking her guts out?" Jane replied.

"I was drunk, Jane. You said so yourself! Really, really drunk," Angela said, as if that settled everything.

"Ma, that excuse only counts if you wouldn't do the same exact thing sober," Jane said.

"Well, at least I knocked on the door before things got...carried away while I was listening," Angela said.

"Oh, yes, thank God for small miracles," Jane said, taking a long sip of coffee. She needed more caffeine to keep up with the current conversation. "I'm so very glad you were there to stop the madness."

"Jane," Angela said. "I'm sorry I did that, I am, and I won't do it again. But I really think we're getting off track."

Jane really doubted whether Angela had the kind of will power she would need to keep her promise, but decided against starting that argument when they already had plenty of unaddressed items on the agenda. Namely, Jane's attraction to woman.

Jane sighed and drained her coffee cup, then went to refill her cup. That meant that she conveniently didn't have to face Angela directly.

"Fine, ma," Jane said. "Go ahead, lecture away."

"You clearly don't know me very well, because if I had any intention of lecturing you, then I would have started without your permission," Angela said. "I think you've paid the price for not answering your phone. Now I just want to talk about...that, what just happened in there."

Now Angela and Jane were standing side by side, facing each other, each with a hand resting on the counter. It suddenly popped into Jane's head what Maura had once said about body language, that folded arms marked an unwillingness to communicate directly, while an open stance and arms by the side indicated a move towards openness, a desire for communication. Normally that would have been something Jane would be able to pick up on instinct, but her instincts were failing her, and Jane was even more glad in that moment to have Maura and her fun facts.

Jane sighed and drummed her fingers on the counter top, trying to find the least embarrassing place to start.

"Fine," Jane said, running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, we were, it was just a vacation thing. Not planned, or something we were looking for. Just sort of happened. You know?"

"Well, I've never had casual sex just happen to me, so I don't actually know," Angela said. "I don't even really understand it."

Jane had expected a little jab like that from her mother given her mother's emphasis on sex as a kind of sacred thing, though Angela had always been surprisingly quiet about the gay thing. Not since around the time Jane hit high school could Jane remember her mom ever saying a word against homosexuality despite the fact that Mrs. Rizzoli was a good, church going Catholic. Even now, confronted by her daughter's own sapphic inclination, Angela was mum on the subject.

"Yes, ma, I know," Jane said. "Do you want to know how it happened or not?"

"Sorry, go ahead."

"Well, yeah, you know it was only suppose to be just the week, you know? Well, no, I know you don't. But, still, just the week, then she was set to go back to the west coast. Just so happened that she started working at BPD about a month later. Then we became friends, then, I think a lot more than friends when we started working together."

"And you were never going to tell me about her? About this?" Angela replied. "About you?"

"With all due respect, it is absolutely none of your business who I hook up with, ma. I don't have to tell you anything, but I will only because this thing will not die until I do," Jane said, putting her coffee mug on the counter and moving towards the living room as her mother followed close behind. That room was closer to the door, which meant Jane would be at least a little closer to getting Angela out of her apartment.

"At the time it was just a hookup that happened a few times. Nothing more, nothing less," Jane said as she walked out of the kitchen, past the short hallway leading to her bedroom and bathroom and towards her living room. "I wasn't going to bug you with some kind of coming out drama if I didn't have to."

Angela followed Jane into the living room and sat on the sofa while Jane stood facing her, leaning against the wall by the door.

"Jane, come here. Sit down," Angela said in a voice similar to the one she used when she thought that any of the teenage Rizzoli kids were being unreasonable and moody. But she was softer about it, less frustrated than she'd been in times past.

Jane rolled her eyes at being spoken to like a moody teenager, but did as Angela said and sat next to her facing her mother. Angela took Jane's hands in hers, looking down at them for a few seconds, before looking up at Jane and smiling. Then she continued speaking.

"I've suspected for awhile, you know. Even before the cruise, I had a feeling you might be, you know, bisexual I think they call it. I read once that they say a parent sometimes knows before the kid, and I think you were that way," Angela said. "I just sort of had this sense about it. Since you were in high school."

Jane inhaled sharply, partly out of surprise, partly out of the adrenaline rush when she realized that she was actually having  _that_  conversation with her mother. Without any preparation or forewarning. So she'd have to say the first things that came into her mind and hope she didn't screw up too badly.

"Ma, I'm sorry I kept it from you. I know you're always saying I'm the good one, the golden child or whatever, and I just, I didn't want to disappoint you, coming out and putting that on you. So I kept it in for a really long time," Jane said, her voice cracking as she kept her eyes on her hands, which her mother still held tightly. "You know, it's funny, for awhile, even up through my second year at the academy, I really tried so hard. Not to be, not to like girls. I tried really hard to convince myself, ma."

"I know, and I really wish you hadn't. Not for my sake. Jane, look at me," Angela said and waited until Jane met her gaze to continue. "I'm not going to pretend to understand the attraction to women. I don't get it, and I don't think I ever will, but that's ok with me. I don't understand half the things that you do anyways. I'll never understand why you always insist on roughousing with Frankie til one of you ended up bleeding, or why you feel like you need spoonfuls of sugar in a perfectly good cup of black coffee, and I still don't see why you wanted to be a cop so bad. But I love you, all of you, including the parts that I can't understand, Jane. I only ever wanted you to be happy."

"Ma, I," Jane stammered, her throat feeling tight.

She swallowed hard and hugged her mother. Angela hugged her back and stroked her hair, kissing her on the side of her forehead in the way that mothers do. It was so comforting, not just the kiss or the hug, but the whole thing. Angela's little speech made Jane feel light and happy in a new way that was unlike anything else. Jane had kept her lesbian leanings from both herself and her mother for so long out of some kind of misguided Catholic guilt that she'd forgotten what it was like to not feel that weight.

"Thanks, ma," Jane finally said. "You know you're pretty cool sometimes."

Angela laughed and pulled away from the hug to hold Jane's face in her hands. She gave Jane a kiss on the cheek, probably taking advantage of the fact that she knew it was one of the few times Jane would allow that kind of doting.

"I do have my moments, don't I?" Angela replied. "You just wait until you see me bust a move at your wedding. Then you'll see how cool your mothe-

"Damn it!"

It had been muttered, a whisper even, but it was enough to catch Jane and Angela's attention, causing them both to turn instinctively towards the voice.

There was Maura in the entrance of the living room, frozen mid-stride very much like a deer in the headlights, a deer that was sincerely surprised that the headlights even saw her in the first place. Jane figured Maura hadn't meant to speak out loud, because that was kind of a Maura thing to do.

Maura's sudden appearance in the scene wasn't the only thing that surprised and distracted Jane in that moment. There was the whole matter of Maura's wardrobe. The fancy, expensive black dress fit Maura surprisingly well, as most fancy, expensive things fit Maura. It fit Maura almost too well around the chest, giving the ME even more cleavage than usual, and significantly more cleavage than the dress was meant to reveal. It was still classy, but just this side of classy, and more the kind of cleavage meant for a hot date than a meeting with the in-laws.

It wasn't something Jane would ever complain about, but the fit of that dress was definitely distracting. In 90% of situations, it would have been deliciously distracting. They just happened to be in the other 10% of situations at the moment.

Maura smiled nervously, looking from Angela to Jane before Maura's eyes flicked down to Maura's shirt on the floor. Jane had forgotten about it, but it was fortunately already half under the sofa where Jane sat. Jane kicked it under in the second that Angela was distracted by Maura taking a step towards them as she smiled and held out her hand.

"Hi," Maura said, smiling nervously as she shook Angela's hand. "I'm Maura Isles."


	23. Motherly Advice

It was so completely illogical that Maura had a difficult time believing it to be true. How could she, Doctor Maura Isles, chief medical examiner for the state of Massachusetts, know for her meticulous attention to detail and unwillingness to declare COD without first contemplating all of the evidence, have overlooked so many issues in her plan to escape Jane's apartment?

The escape effort was risky to begin with, but Maura had recognized that and decided to take the risk anyway because of her mounting anxiety about being trapped. But she'd failed to remember until she was halfway to the door that her car keys were in her purse, which was tucked behind the pillow, which Mrs. Rizzoli was leaning up against. She briefly thought of taking a cab before realizing that she had all of her cash and credit cards in the same purse as her car keys.

Maura was even more trapped than she'd been before, with absolutely no way out of the apartment and no way of knowing when Angela would leave or if she would, at some point, demand to speak to Maura while Maura was dressed in a way that would've been far more appropriate for picking up a date at a nightclub.

Realizing all of that in the span of a few seconds had been what had caused Maura to swear under her breath. She honestly didn't even realized she'd done it until both Jane and Angela were staring at her. Jane, with a mix of surprise and barely concealed arousal. Angela ,with surprise and confusion.

Maura stood perfectly still for a moment longer than she wanted to before stepping forward to shake Angela's hand and getting Jane to hide the shirt from the previous evening.

"Hello, I'm Maura Isles," Maura said.

Angela smiled in way that seemed sincere enough, though she still displayed an understandable level of uncertainty in her mannerisms and speech.

"Yes, I believe we've met," Angela said. "On vacation, if I'm not mistaken."

"Really? You think so?" Maura asked, modulating her tone in a way that she hoped would cause Angela to question her memory of that evening.

"Maura, she knows," Jane said. Maura was almost relieved that she wouldn't have to find new and interesting ways around the truth. At least until Jane continued. "About everything."

"Everything?"

Jane nodded, keeping her eyes carefully on her mother, who seemed to understand well enough what was going on.

"I'm very observant," Angela offered to break the increasingly awkward silence.

"And nosy," Jane added, sounding mildly annoyed though a smile formed at the corner of her lips.

"But mostly observant," Angela said.

"Yes, I imagine so, to have deduced that based on the few hours that you spent with us and given your...compromised motor skills and our attempts to conceal the nature of our-

"Do you want to sit down?" Angela said.

Though Angela had cut Maura off, it was as much for Maura's sake as her own. Maura was getting on one of those rolls where she nervous chattered while gradually moving towards saying something foolish. What, without context, would have been rude was actually an act of kindness on Angela's part.

Maura still hesitated to accept the offer, but she glanced at Jane, and Jane didn't seem nearly as mortified and tense as Maura would have predicted. Jane actually seemed almost at ease, though there was a sharp quickness to her motions, the way that her eyes moved, the way she nodded that told Maura Jane was still alert, cautious.

Maura took that as cue to sit if she wanted to, that it would not be wildly inappropriate or embarrassing for Jane.

"Thank you," Maura said, smiling politely as she sat in the puffy chair that Jane usually used as an unofficial coat rack.

Angela sat, and Jane did too. And a silence fell over the three woman. It lasted no longer than a few seconds, but it felt more like a few minutes. Maura quickly started to regret her decision to stay.

"So," Angela said. "You work with Jane?"

"Yes, I do," Maura said, then added to deflect attention from herself. "She's an excellent coworker. Very conscientious."

"What department are you in?" Angela asked, apparently undeterred by the bait Maura had offered in her praise of Jane.

"What do you mean?" Maura replied. She'd assumed that Jane would have told her mother that bit of information, she would also have mentioned that Maura was an ME.

"I mean, what department do you work in?" Angela asked out of sincere curiosity. "You just don't, you know, look like a cop."

Were Maura a guesser, she would have hypothesized that Angela was making an indirect reference to her dress, which got a bit tighter and a little shorter when Maura sat down.

"I'm not," Maura said. "I'm a medical examiner, so I work with the police force examining suspicious deaths and homicides."

"She's being modest. Maura's not just a medical examiner," Jane chimed in, smiling at Maura.  _"_ she's _the_  medical examiner. Chief Medical Examiner for the state."

There was something in the way that Jane said that, like she was proud, admired, even looked up to Maura. It was affectionate and intimate, like Jane wanted not just her mother, but Maura too, to realized how truly great Maura was.

"A doctor!" Angela said. "And not just any doctor, but a head doctor too! I'm surprised you didn't lead with that, Jane. It's very impressive."

"Didn't really have the time to give you a bio or anything," Jane said, then added. "And I'm kind of offended that you are more impressed by her being a doctor as opposed to a cop when you have a cop for a daughter."

"Oh, Jane, that's not what I meant," Angela said as she waved Jane off. "And you know it. I've always been very proud of you."

Angela pulled Jane in with one arm and kissed her on the cheek.

"C'mon, ma. I'm so not a hugger," Jane complained as she gently swatted Angela away.

That part of Jane's disposition surprised Maura, because Jane had always been so tactile and willing to hug Maura at the drop of hat, whether it was to comfort Maura during a particularly brutal case or to celebrate after working together to catch a murderer.

Maura didn't comment on the incongruity, instead smiling a little bigger at the thought that Jane saved that kind of affection for Maura, and, it would seem, only Maura.

"If she didn't look so much like my mother use to I'd wonder if that girl was even mine," Angela said to Maura. "Honestly not sure sometimes."

Jane smiled and laughed, as did Maura, and Maura felt a really unique sensation in that moment, something she hadn't ever felt before. It was a small, fleeting moment, but it felt like Angela had just let her in, made a conscious decision to allow Maura into the relationship between Jane and Angela. There was tenderness, a motherly warmth that Maura never saw in her own mother as Angela looked from Jane to Maura and back.

Maura swallowed back the surge of emotions before smiling sincerely as she spoke.

"Jane certainly is something else," Maura said.

* * *

Jane had not expected anything that happened from the time her mother burst into her bedroom. Not a single thing went as she imagined it would. Not the conversation, not Maura's guest appearance, and certainly not the extended visit with her mother and Maura.

What Jane had expected least of all though, was the fact that she enjoyed herself. Of course, all that was after getting over the awkwardness of having to introduce Maura in an outfit designed to be torn off. Then there was a bit more awkwardness while Jane suspected that, at any minute, her mother would ask Maura if she was working undercover in vice.

Nothing like that transpired. She sat there with her mother and her...Maura for a solid thirty minutes without a catastrophically embarrassing event in sight. She watched Angela talk to Maura with her usual animated exaggeration, but Jane especially watched Maura. Watched as Maura discretely pulled the throw blanket around her shoulders before leaning forward to listen more closely to Angela's story. Watched as Maura smiled and laughed and soaked up everything that Angela was giving her, every little tidbit about Jane as a child, or Jane as teenager, every bit of annoying motherly advice that Angela could think to give her captive audience.

Maura seemed to love it all, everything down to the moments of good-natured bickering between Jane and Angela.

Maura probably would have put up with the Rizzoli family gathering for another few hours if Angela didn't suddenly realize that she had left Frank an hour earlier with a promise of coffee and scones when she got back. Even then, she stalled another ten minutes before standing up and announcing that she really had to get going this time.

"It was really nice seeing you," Angela said as she took a step towards Maura, who stood and stretched her hand out. Instead Angela pulled her into a hug.

Then Angela turned to Jane and pulled her into a quick hug. She gave Jane a quick kiss on the cheek before whispering in her her ear, so quietly that Jane almost didn't hear it.

"She loves you too," Angela whispered.

Before the words entered Jane's consciousness, Angela was kissing Jane on the cheek again before smiling and heading towards the door.

"See you for gnocchi on Thursday?" Angela asked.

"What? Yeah, wouldn't miss it. See you then," Jane said as she followed her mother to the door and closed it behind her.

"Jane?" Maura asked as she walked towards Jane. Jane turned to face Maura to realize that the doctor had dropped the blanket so that it fell at her feet. There was a suggestive, playful lilt to her voice as she put her arms around Jane's neck. "I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"What did your mother just say to you?" Maura asked. "When she hugged you, I mean."

That definitely wasn't anywhere close to what she'd been expecting, which slowed Jane's response. Well, that and Maura's spectacular cleavage delayed Jane's response significantly.

"Uhh,um," Jane muttered.

"I think she was probably a little more fluent than that," Maura teased.

"Well, maybe she just wanted me to tell you that she liked your get up. Thought the plaid throw from Target really went with your high fashion dress," Jane said.

"Now I know you're lying," Maura said. "Because that was a horrendous combination, but it was the only alternative to inadvertently showing your mother my breasts."

"And I do appreciate you sacrificing fashion points for the cause," Jane said as she bent down to give Maura a quick kiss. "Why'd you ask?"

"What?"

"What my mom said to me," Jane said.

"Because you looked like, I can't explain it," Maura said thoughtfully. "Like, I don't know. It was a pleasant look, but I can't place it. It didn't match any of your usual expressions, so I was just curious what it was an expression of."

Jane shrugged noncommittally. She honestly wasn't sure exactly what it was an expression of because she hadn't been aware of making any kind of face at all. She'd been more focused on hearing what Angela said at all.

"Not sure what the face meant, honestly," Jane said. "She likes you though."

Maura smiled brightly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she likes you. Not sure why that always comes as a surprise to you," Jane said. "You're pretty awesome."

Maura, still smiling, put her hand in Jane's hair and pulled her into a kiss, longer and slower than the last one, and a hundred times more sensual.

"Mmm," Maura hummed as she smiled against Jane's lips. "This is nice."

"Very nice," Jane said, resting her head against Maura's forehead. "Want to make a day of it?"

"As amazing as that sounds, I do have to work at some point today," Maura said, though she didn't move. "I have two presumed natural cause autopsies to do, and, based on normal patterns, I can expect at least one more will come in today."

"But it's the weekend," Jane whined. "And it's not an emergency or anything. And you can't work in that outfit anyway."

"Unfortunately, it is my weekend on, and people do die regardless of whether or not it's the weekend," Maura said as she took a small step back. "And, as far as clothing is concerned, I have spare scrubs at work."

"Fine," Jane said, lightly tracing the neckline of Maura's dress. "I'll just have to rip this off you with my teeth and have my way with you some other time."

"Jane!"

"What? You look really hot," Jane said.

"I know. I mean, I know that you feel that way. For a detective you can be awfully transparent," Maura said, the trace of a smile on her lips. "And I'd just rather you not use your teeth to rip a one of a kind McQueen dress off of me. I am, however, open to you having your way with me."

"Alright. Then, how about for foreplay, I slowly, gently unzip the dress, steam clean, and press the dress right in the bedroom," Jane said, raising an eyebrow. "Am I getting you all hot and bother yet?"

"Now I know you're patronizing me," Maura said, grinning as she walked towards the sofa to retrieve her jacket and purse. "But you will be forgiven if you join me for dinner tonight. Does 5:30 work for you?"

Jane raised her eyebrows. They'd made these kind of arrangements in the past, set up these post-work dinners, often in the same casual, joking way. But they'd never made such plans after spending a sexy night together. It felt suspiciously like Maura was asking Jane on a date. It shouldn't have surprised Jane, but it did, because she'd never been on an official date with Maura, and, given the closeness Jane felt to Maura, that suddenly seemed kind of strange to Jane.

"Yeah," Jane said, nodding and looking down at her fingernails, feeling strangely shy all the sudden. "Sounds great. Want to try the new Italian place off Boylston?"

"Perfect," Maura replied enthusiastically. "That sounds perfect."

She gave Jane a peck on the lips while buttoning her jacket. Maura paused when she had finished buttoning the jacket and rested a hand on Jane's cheek, just looking right at Jane in this really intense, adoring way for a good few seconds. Then Maura smiled softly and gave Jane another peck on the lips.

"I,um, I'll see you then," Maura said as she put the purse on her shoulder and glanced down at the ground. She hesitated another second before taking a step towards the door to slip on her heels from the previous evening.

"I'll be looking forward to it," Jane said as she moved towards the door too. Although she didn't want Maura to go, it seemed the polite thing to move with Maura to the door. It also seemed polite to open the door for Maura. As a way of reassuring Maura that Jane wasn't rushing her out, Jane gave her a quick, chaste kiss and a smile.

It all seemed to be the right thing, because Maura smiled her special Maura smile, the sparkly one that she seemed to reserve just for Jane.

"Bye, Jane," Maura said.

"Yeah, see you soon, hopefully," Jane said.

Maura nodded for lack of anything to say before heading down the hall. Jane watched from the door until Maura disappeared around the corner.

Then Jane went back into her apartment and closed the door. She leaned against it and smiled broadly, with more sincere happiness than she'd felt in a really, really long time. She'd had a realization during that goodbye, one that was all at once surprising and stunningly obvious.

And Angela's words suddenly became clear as day, as if she needed to have the realization on her own before the words would truly sink in.

"She loves you too," Jane murmured to herself, grinning like an idiot as she went to her bedroom to get dressed and set some things up, buy flowers, stuff like that, in the time that Maura was at work.

It wasn't usually like Jane to plan so far ahead for a dinner out, but this wasn't any dinner. Detective Jane Rizzoli was going on her first official date with Doctor Maura Isles.


	24. Change of Plans

 

By the time Maura arrived at BPD, parked her car, changed into her spare black scrubs, and moved her first body to the autopsy table with some help from one of the techs it was about 10. She was roughly 45 minutes behind her usual schedule, which meant that she would have to work very efficiently if she was going to make dinner with Jane.

Maura had little doubt that she could do it though. What little doubt she did have was the kind of doubt she had about reddish-brown stains at crime scenes. Maura knew, according to several awards she had received from the National Association of Medical Examiners, that she was one of the best at what she did. She also had motivation that was a little more compelling than the usual documentary waiting at home.

She had Jane.

Well, Maura had Jane as much as Jane could be had by another person. Jane had never struck Maura as the type to let herself belong to any person in a romantic relationship. The detective was fiercely independent and actually appeared standoff-ish in speaking people who weren't in her small circle of friends and family. Maura wasn't sure how much a person like that could be had, if at all.

Not that Maura wanted to possess Jane; no, that wasn't it at all. Maura just wanted Jane to be hers, and she wanted to be Jane's, whatever than meant. The sentiment certainly implied possession, but that wasn't what Maura wanted. Maura couldn't exactly articulate what she wanted, just that she wanted Jane.

Maura thought that she could have lived with Jane seeing other people earlier in their relationship, when they were trying to be just friends. Maura really and truly thought she could have managed it without excessive angst. Now was different though; things had changed. Maura couldn't pinpoint when, but the relationship had evolved to a point where she couldn't stand it, where dating other people felt vaguely like cheating even though there was no concrete foundation for such a feeling.

That feeling had been the root of Maura's strange sense of guilt when she was planning her date with Kitty, so it had been there before spending the night with Jane. Still, Maura couldn't pinpoint exactly when it had developed into this sense of exclusivity despite a complete lack of conversation on the topic.

These thoughts and thoughts like them occupied Maura's mind all while she examined each organ thoroughly, noting abnormalities if she saw any and taking particular interest in the stomach contents for anything out of the ordinary.

Maura continued with her work, different versions of the same general thought occasionally popping up. She tried to go about her usual routine, humming along to the background music she put on before every autopsy in an attempt to occupy her brain with something other than repetitive thoughts about Jane. But Jane's influence showed up even in that facet of Maura's life. In the mix of classical, mostly instrumental, Maura now had a number of rock power ballads courtesy of Jane fiddling around with Maura's ipod during particularly slow days in the homicide department.

Maura could have deleted them, but they reminded her of Jane's influence in her otherwise monotonous life. So the songs stayed. And they were always a nice little surprise when she put the ipod on shuffle.

It happened to be "Open Arms" one of Jane's songs that Maura hummed as she began to stitch up the Y-incision. Maura smiled to herself, recalling the first time she'd heard the song and commenting to Jane that it seemed a bit over the top, thinking that Jane, ever the unsentimental one, would readily agree. Jane admitted that it was a little sappier the other songs, but insisted it was still a classic because it was a Journey song and Journey would always be awesome, so she proceeded to put it on Maura's autopsy playlist.

That round of song updates had occurred a little less than a week ago. Actually, Maura thought as she finished stitching up the incision, it had been this past Monday, just a few days after their little charade in the park. Maura wondered if perhaps Jane's song choice had been Jane's way of admitting something that she was, at the time, too stubborn to admit to. Even if it hadn't been intentional, Maura imagined there must have been some subconscious feelings at work for Jane to choose a song so expressive and emotional at a time when she was clearly working through and against her feelings for Maura.

Fortunately, Maura was prevented from making any more uncharacteristic conjecture regarding Jane's motivation when her phone vibrated to indicate she had a new text.

Maura removed her bloody gloves and disposed of all the rest of her protective equipment before grabbing her phone off the nearby counter to read the text. It was from Jane, and it was maddingly cryptic.

_Change of plans. I'll text new address_

_Care to elaborate?_

_patience doctor...you'll hear soon ;)_

Maura sighed and put her phone back on the table. She could pester Jane, but Maura knew that the detective would remain tight lipped until she was good and ready. Jane was stubborn like that. Maura kind of liked that about Jane, that, if Jane decided to dig her heels in on something, however inconsequential, she was not going to yield.

It surprised Maura a bit that a trait that she usually found annoying, or, at the very least, counterproductive, was actually endearing on Jane. It flew in the face of logic and Maura's personality to think in such a way about a personality trait that she believed to be objectively problematic.

But it was Jane, and everything felt different where Jane was involved. Maura suddenly recalled the moment earlier in the morning as she'd said goodbye to Jane, how different even that had felt.

She'd just taken a moment to look into Jane's eyes, to really see Jane, and Maura felt emotions stronger than she'd felt with both Ian and Garrett combined. Maura'd been so overwhelmed, had wanted to say so much, but the words got stuck in her throat, and she'd settled on stumbling over a simple "I'll see you then."

Maura sighed. Well, regardless of the circular and repetitive Jane related thoughts floating through her mind, Maura still really needed to get a start on her next autopsy if she were to have any hope of finishing in time for Jane's mystery date. She started towards her office to complete the report.

* * *

Jane was a little stressed out. Strike that, she was actually super stressed out, especially considering these were the kinds of things that Jane did not normally care about at all.

Jane had never stressed about getting a reservation. If she found out that a place was busy and didn't take reservations or was all booked, she'd just go somewhere else. Wasn't like they were living in a one restaurant town or anything. There were plenty of places to eat in Boston.

But she'd stupidly made plans with Maura at the one place that was reservation only and booked up a few days in advance on weekends. Well, there was probably more than one place like that in Boston, but none that Jane knew of or would even think to frequent.

So Jane was stuck without a restaurant for her date with Maura. And Maura liked to know where she was going ahead of time on a night out. Even what had initially seemed a spontaneous visit to the nightclub on the cruise had been planned out 24 hours ahead of time.

Jane hung up the phone after the failed reservation attempt, tossing her phone on the couch. She sat down and rested her feet on the table, exhaling as she ran both hands through her hair and closed her eyes.

She took a few more deep breaths as she willed herself to not dwell on the stupidity of suggesting the restaurant in the first place.

Hell, Jane wouldn't have been comfortable at the place anyway, not with its weird noveau take on traditional Italian food not when Jane liked her mom's version of Italian just fine. Maybe she could work with that, work with things that were more, well, _Jane_. If being a detective in homicide had taught Jane anything, it was that you had to work with the stuff you have, not the stuff you wish you had.

Instead of scrambling around for some equally in demand restaurant that did have a reservation, Jane decided to go a different route as a way of making the day special. She'd make a day of it, and do it in a way that was far more her style than just going to some ritzy restaurant. She's drop little hints here and there for Maura, get her guessing if possible. It would be give Maura a fun, if slightly frustrating diversion from cutting up dead people for half the day, then writing about it for the other half.

Before she could change her mind or overthink the thing, Jane sent the text to Maura, and smirked at the predictable response from the doctor. She could even imagine Maura saying it, how her head would tilt to the side and her lips would purse together in frustration even as a smile pulled at the corner of her lips.

Jane snapped herself out of what she'd deem in anyone else a disgustingly sweet daydream for long enough to realize that she still had to find a half decent place to eat. Then she'd have to decide on a few other breadcrumbs to toss Maura's way.

Then, as if the idea had always been there a fully formed plan popped into Jane's head.

Jane had a perfect idea, and just enough time to pull it off.

* * *

Nothing was easy. Or at least Jane felt that way with how her day had been developing so far. First, she couldn't get in the restaurant. No problem, she found a small traditional Italian restaurant in her old neighborhood. She knew the guy who took it over after his father retired, so she'd talked him into saving a table for her.

Then came the second challenge. Jane had decided that she wanted to get Maura a new outfit for the date. First of all, because Maura liked that stuff, but also for more practical reasons. As sexy as the dress had been on Maura, she didn't seem to feel comfortable. Even if Maura was comfortable in the dress, it probably had a wrinkle, and Maura definitely was not comfortable with that.

The idea seemed good in theory, but was a bit more complicated in practice. Jane had been standing in front of a rack of dresses at one particular mid-price boutique for a good half an hour as the sales girl tried to help her figure out what the hell she was looking for. Jane hadn't a clue, so the girl just rambled on and on about the hottest new trends, hoping something would strike Jane. It had only bewildered Jane more, so she'd wandered out of the store and back to her car.

She sat for about a minute trying to work out some idea on where she could get a dress that was Maura. Jane just wished that she had someone to tell her what to do, someone who knew Maura well enough to know that hot pants, however 'in' they were going to be come summertime, were not the answer.

Jane sighed and turned her key in the ignition. Then she drove towards Newbury Street.

After finding, by some miracle of the parking god, a spot right in front of the store, Jane hopped out of her car, slammed the door, and walked briskly towards the store. She swung the door open without breaking her stride as she moved across the store towards the first available cashier. Jane was, after all, behind schedule and at a place where she felt out of place in every way imaginable. It added to already mounting anxiety levels.

"Hey, I need to see Millie," Jane said as she approached the woman and the main desk, a petite red-headed woman with a snobby air that fit right in at such a fancy place. She made a face somewhere between surprise at the ambush and disdain as she took in Jane's off the rack blazer and v-neck. "Is Millie in today?"

"Do you have an appointment?" the woman asked.

"No," Jane said, and when the woman appeared ready to lose interest, Jane added quickly, "I'm here for Maura Isles. She doesn't have an appointment either, but she needs a dress for tonight and got tied up at work. I thought Millie could help."

"Hold on," the woman said with a little more warmth when Jane mentioned Maura's name. "I'll see if she's available."

Jane stood there, resting one hand on the counter as she drummed her fingers while waiting. Then, for lack of anything better to do, wandered over to the nearest rack of clothes, some fluffy blue shirts paired with obscenely expensive pants, or what Jane assumed were obscenely expensive pants. She started looking for the price tag to confirm her suspicion.

"Jane?"

Jane looked up and quickly let go of the tag as if she'd been caught touching stuff in the history museum. Millie smiled pleasantly at Jane, although she looked surprised to see her.

"Hey," Jane said, holding out her hand for Millie. "Nice to see you. Kind of surprised you remember me."

"Of course. I don't easily forget a woman who wears couture so well," Millie said. "I do have to admit that I'm surprised that you came willingly on your own. From what I remember, you seemed to be here simply to please Maura."

Jane smiled and nodded. For a fashion lady, Millie had a really good memory and a pretty good read on people.

"Yeah, well, this is kind of a desperation thing," Jane said, rubbing her hands together. "I'm not exactly sure how this works, but I'm wondering if you could maybe, I don't know, give me a consult on the type of stuff Maura likes. We're going out tonight, and I'd like to get her a nice dress."

"Hmm," Millie hummed as she pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I might have something."

She took a quick look in Lacy's direction to make sure the girl was busy talking to another consultant before gesturing for Jane to follow her. Millie turned and walked away before Jane could respond, so Jane had no choice but to follow.

Millie led Jane through a door that, though not labelled employees only, looked like an employees only type of door. She led Jane down a short hallway, past two empty offices and stopped at the third door. She took a key from the pocket of her tailored black dress pants and unlocked the door. It was all done very quietly. Millie hadn't spoken a word since leading Jane towards the door. Even the way that she closed the door and turned on the light was quiet, like she was letting Jane in on a secret.

When Jane took a look around, she could sort of understand why.

They were in a large room, bigger than Jane's living room, and it was full of dresses, pants and shirts that Jane hadn't seen on the floor. Jane still wasn't sure that this collection could be of much use to her though, since the cheapest item was likely about $500 out of Jane's price range.

"This is the surplus room. We occasionally have special orders that are cancelled last minute, or trends that never actually become trends," Millie said, smiling to herself at the last part, probably remembering some inside fashion joke or something. "We store a portion here to either be sold back to the designer or chain stores."

"Okay," Jane said. "Um, that's great, and, I mean, I'm not unappreciative of the tour or anything. Just, I'm not sure how this helps."

"Patience, Jane," Millie said with a smirk as she walked down the second aisle. "You're an awful lot like and antsy six year old around shopping, aren't you?"

Before Jane could reply, Millie returned with a dress. It was beautiful, in a deep shade of purple with some kind of ruffly detailing along the neckline. It was really classy, and definitely something Maura would wear extremely well.

"As part of an employee benefit program, we are allowed to purchase two items a month from the surplus room. We pay whatever the company would have received from the designer plus our employee discount," Millie said. "I was thinking maybe we might be able to work around that to get Maura this lovely dress. It's practically tailored for her."

"How're we gonna do that? I'm no employee, and I'm not sure I could pass for one even for a day," Jane said.

Millie laughed. She actually laughed. Jane had been aiming for a little humor, but it shouldn't have been _that_  funny.

"I wouldn't dream of torturing you in that way," Millie said, still smiling. "If you can pay the $100 in cash, then I can put this down as my second purchase of the month, and you can bring Maura the dress."

"You'd do that? Why? I mean, that's your big bonus," Jane said.

Millie shrugged.

"Next week is the end of the month, and there's nothing here that I want or don't already own," Millie said as she held out the dress for Jane to take. "I like Maura. She and I have known each other since she started visiting here during med school. She's always been so good to me. One of the nicest people from money that I've ever met."

"Yeah, she's something else," Jane said as she took her wallet out of her back pocket to pull out the five twenty dollar bills she'd withdrawn from the bank before her shopping trip. Millie took the cash and handed Jane the hanger.

Millie slipped the cash in her pocket and opened the door to lead Jane back down the hallway. As they were about to open the door, a strange question popped into her head that came out before Jane could stop it.

"What did you think of us last time we were here?" Jane asked.

Millie turned back from the door and smiled at Jane.

"Why do you ask?"

Jane shrugged. "You seem like a pretty perceptive lady. I'm just curious."

"It was awhile ago, but I remember being surprised," Millie said.

"Surprised?"

Millie nodded.

"That Maura was so obvious," Millie said. "She's always been a little...hard to know. Even when she's nice, it's hard to know the real Maura without feeling like she's holding something back, protecting herself. She wasn't like that when she came in with you. Maura was relaxed. She was so comfortable around you, touching you, talking to you. She so openly adored you. I thought you guys must've been together awhile for that to happen."

Jane nodded and looked down at the dress so that Millie wouldn't see a rare Rizzoli blush creep onto her cheeks.

"You've got Maura down," Jane said. "I'll give you that."

"Believe it or not, reading people is part of my job. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it," Millie said as she peeked her head out the door to make sure Lacy wasn't on patrol or anything. "You're good to go. Looks like Lacy and Pete are in with clients."

Millie led Jane back out onto the main floor, even walking with Jane to the front door.

"Thanks again, Millie. This is really great of you," Jane said, holding her hand out for a handshake. "If I liked fancy clothes and had all kinds of money, I'd come see you more often."

"Of course, it was my pleasure," Millie said, smiling warmly as she shook Jane's hand. "You just enjoy your evening out."

"Will do," Jane said, nodding as she leaned against the door to open it. She waved one more time and stepped out into the sunny street.

Now, Jane just needed to find a way to get that dress to Maura.

 


	25. A Very Jane Evening

Maura was nearly finished her second autopsy of the day when she was interrupted by a tentative knock on the door. She looked up, surprised to see a man, one of the beat cops she'd seen around once in awhile. Maura smiled and gesture for him to come in, though she was very confused about why a patrol officer would be visiting the morgue on a Saturday. She'd never had a conversation with the man and couldn't even recall his name at the moment.

"Hello, officer," Maura said as she put aside her scalpel and removed her gloves. Even if she didn't know the man's name, Maura liked to use titles as a sign of respect. Even if the fact that she trailed off made it obvious that she couldn't remember his name. "Can I help you with something?"

"Officer Reynolds. You can call me Chuck though," he said as he shook her hand. He had a firm grasp, strong hands that probably bore a direct correlation to the strength in the well-developed musculature of his upper arms and shoulders.

In the two seconds of silence, Chuck looked around nervously, then shifted position so that he could see the door. When he realized that Maura was waiting for him to continue, he spoke again.

"Yeah, um, just had a quick question about, you know, what you do," the officer said. "So you cut bodies open, huh?"

"Yes, that is the basic definition of an autopsy, although it is more involved, and I can't simply cut into people with abandon. Even if the person is dead. There's a technique to it," Maura said. "Why do you ask?"

"Um, I dunno, just curious, thinking about trying to work my way up to homicide," Chuck said, moving suddenly to bend over the body that Maura had just started closing up. "What's that cut called again? Some kind of letter, right?"

Though the officer's interest in Maura's work was...nice, the way he expressed it was a bit odd. Like he had ulterior motives, and was just asking questions to keep Maura talking. Usually Maura would have bought the feigned interest and gone on for a good ten minutes about the nuances of a successful autopsy, but Chuck was so obviously anxious and distracted that even Maura could easily see it.

"Yes, it is. It's called a y-incision," Maura said. "Although I sense you're here for other reasons?"

Chuck froze, didn't speak for a second. He opened his mouth twice before closing it again.

"Chuck? What is it?" Maura asked.

"I just, I," Chuck stammered, before blurting out. "I think you're hot."

Maura smiled a smile that almost turned into a laugh. She stifled it to keep from bruising the man's ego more than necessary.

"That's very kind of you to say," Maura said. "And you seem like a kind person. But you're just not exactly my type. I can assure it has nothing to do with you."

"You mean that you like girls?" Chuck asked. "Cuz, I mean, you hear stuff, not that I gossip, just that you can't help but hear stuff."

Though Maura didn't care who knew about her sexual orientation, she was amazed that word had managed to filter down to a patrol officer Maura had little to no contact with, particularly when Maura was not even technically a part of the police force. Given the largely male population of the police force and the way that the news had spread to the far reaches of the sizable BPD, Maura suspected the scholarship on gossip as a feminine discourse needed some serious revision.

Maura smiled calmly, hoping to ease some of the anxiety that the officer was clearly experiencing. It seemed to do the exact opposite, as Chuck carried on with his rambling.

"Sorry, I mean, not my business, I know. I, just, you said not exactly your type, so I figured that meant I wasn't a girl. Which, you know, that's cool. Totally fine by me. Just thought I'd let you know that, you know, you're hot," Chuck said, his eyes darting around until they landed on a spot just to the right of Maura's head.

"Thank you," Maura replied, though her unintentional upward inflection made it should almost like a question. The conversation had been one of the more bizarre ones she'd had in awhile. "That is, um, thoughtful of you."

Maura nodded politely as she spoke and continued to smile calmly, hoping her total confusion was not too evident. Because she had to be missing something, some obvious social cue for the conversation to feel so strangely disjointed.

"Yeah, just thought you should know. No hard feelings or anything," Chuck said, taking a step back, looking almost relieved to find a way out of the conversation. "You, uh, enjoy your autopsy then."

Chuck was already moving towards the door by the time Maura responded.

"And enjoy your patrol too," she said.

He smiled and gave her a quick wave before leaving as suddenly as he'd arrived.

Maura stood in the same spot for a few seconds and just looked around the room, some kind of 'did anyone else think that was strange' instinct, even though she knew the closest person to her was a lab tech a few rooms away.

Maura gave up on trying to make sense of Chuck's visit after brief reflection that yielded no new insights. She'd have to ask Jane for some help decoding this particularly difficult conversation.

For now though, Maura had at least one more autopsy to complete.

* * *

Maura had just completed her third autopsy and was about to head to her office to finish paperwork when her phone rang. Maura picked up her cell and answered without even checking the caller ID because she was busy arranging her notes in order to more efficiently write her reports.

"Dr. Isles," she said as she moved a paper from the Goldman autopsy that had somehow gotten mixed in with the Olin autopsy.

"Hey there," Jane said. "This is Detective Rizzoli speaking."

"Hi, Jane," Maura said, smiling to herself as she stacked all her papers neatly on the table and stood leaning against the table, facing the morgue. "No murder, I hope?"

"None that I'll be investigating. I got Korsak to cover my on call later tonight," Jane said, then added in a way that Maura could read as flirty even without the visual cues. "I don't want anything to get in the way of our date."

Maura blushed and bit her lip. She glanced in the direction of the tech's office, then turned around to gather her files and move towards the privacy of her office. Though she was willing to be open about her relationship with Jane, Maura didn't think it would be appropriate to be caught openly flirting in the morgue by one of her assistants.

Jane took Maura's half second of silence as hesitation.

"I mean, that's what I'm calling it," Jane said. "A date. Is that ok?"

"A date? Why, detective, that is awfully presumptuous," Maura teased. "I had no idea. After our activities last night I am positively blindsided by this development."

"Is that sarcasm?" Jane replied. Maura could hear the smile in her voice.

"Well, technically it's irony. I was not using irony to convey contempt, as would be the case if I were using sarcasm," Maura said. "But in that way that you use the term sarcasm, yes, it was."

"Well, irony sounds good on you," Jane said. "Speaking of which, I was just calling to see what you're wearing."

"Jane," Maura said in a voice she hoped sounded more serious than the amused grin would indicate. "I am at work. I know that our relationship has...evolved recently, but I cannot talk dirty to you while I am at work."

There was a short laugh on the other end.

"Now who's being presumptuous?" Jane replied, and Maura could image her eyebrows shooting up in that expression of mock surprised that Jane so often relied upon. "I was thinking nothing of the sort. I wanted to know what you're wearing to dinner tonight."

"Oh, I, um, why do you ask?" Maura replied, resorting to the question both out of sincere curiosity and as a way of drawing attention away from her embarrassing misunderstanding.

"I don't know. I guess I want to match up the colors," Jane said.

"Jane, you're speaking to the person who had to convince you that one blue sock and one black sock would not pass for matching," Maura said. "Let's be serious."

"I'm a curious person, what can I say?" Jane replied defensively. "Besides, that was more like navy blue, totally could have pulled it off."

Maura would have quibbled with that description of the sock color if not for the fact that Jane's question reminded her of a far more troubling development.

"I don't actually have anything suitable to wear," Maura said. "I don't have the time to go home and choose an outfit."

"Check your scrubs closet," Jane said, like it was the simplest thing in the world, as if she did not realize that she called it her scrub closet for a reason. Maura never had any date clothes in her scrubs closet. She almost always wore suitable clothing for a date to work, and if she didn't, Maura would hang the dressier outfit elsewhere. Never in her scrubs closet.

"I used my last pair of spare scrubs today," Maura said. "And I wouldn't wear scrubs on a date even if I had a closet full of them. Aside from the formlessness and flimsiness of the fabric, the lingering scent of decomposition in the clothe would dampen my sex appeal."

"Well, I think the smell of deco is sexy," Jane said, a playful lilt to her voice that was a hint that she might not be totally sincere. Maura could not tell with 100% certainty though.

"Really?"

"No, not really," Jane said. She sighed before continuing to speak. "Just maybe, just check and see of you have anything."

"But Jane, I know that I have nothing, absolutely nothing, and the black dress has a noticeable wrinkle across the back," Maura said. She could not understand why Jane, normally quite logical, would insist on something that so obviously had a low chance of success. It was frustrating in that amusing way Jane had of pestering Maura. "I sincerely doubt that a dress has materialized in the hours since I last looked."

"Just humor me please," Jane said. "Promise me you'll look before you go crazy and rush out to buy a $1000 dress, ok?"

"I promise, but-

"No but. Remember that you promised. Now go check, and I'm going to start getting ready," Jane said.

After putting her phone down on the desk, Maura paused a moment to decide her next course of action. Jane must be up to something, that she would be so insistent that Maura follow through on such an odd request. And Jane knew that Maura regarded a broken promise much in the same way that she regarded a lie, so Maura would have to check the closet.

Maura walked to the opposite side of her office, where she had two small closets, one for scrubs and the other for her jacket and other miscellaneous items. She opened the door, and there it was, a new dress, just as Jane had guessed. It made sense, and Maura realized when she saw the dress that she'd been expecting Jane would be up to something of this nature. That Jane must have put the dress there herself for the detective to be so certain.

Even if Maura had expected something, it was not this kind of something. Not a brand new designer dress that probably cost nearly as much as the black dress on the hanger in the next closet over. Maura ran her fingers over the exquisite organza detailing along the neckline as she marveled at the beautiful, deep purple. She had one other dress that was a similar color, the same one that she'd worn on the cruise for their night out. Maura wondered if Jane remember the dress. She probably did; Jane had an excellent eye for detail and an impressive memory that she never gave herself enough credit for.

More importantly, Maura wondered, how on earth could Jane afford such a dress? Maura found the price tag hanging inside the dress; it cost just as much as Maura suspected, but she noticed a note in cramped, very familiar handwriting just under the price.

_But Jane Rizzoli never pays full price._

Maura smiled to herself and pulled the dress off the rack to examine it more closely, to see if it was the designer that she suspected when she saw another note. It was on a piece of paper, a little bit bigger than a business card and hung from a piece of ribbon tied tightly around the hanger.

_Wear this tonight and meet me in lobby of the station at 5. Can't wait...-Jane_

Maura smiled and bit her lower lip as she read the note over again. Jane was going out of her way to make this evening special, albeit in her own bossy, cryptic way. Rarely had anyone ever gone out of their way to make Maura feel so special and wanted. Maura wanted to make Jane feel that same thing tonight.

She stood looking at the dress for a moment, deep in thought. Then she looked at the clock. It was 3:00. Maura had just enough time to finish off paperwork that couldn't wait before getting dressed and making one more additional arrangement for the evening.

* * *

Jane arrived at the station at five minutes before five o'clock, fully aware that Maura had a habit of arriving early for virtually everything. Fortunately, Maura was nowhere in sight when Jane entered the lobby. She passed the few minutes by pacing slowly, then leaning against the desk of the cop assigned to sign visitors in. Which naturally led to some of the usual small talk.

"Hey, Rizzoli," the man, Officer Quinlen, said as Jane settled into her spot against the desk facing the elevator Jane knew Maura would use to get to the lobby. "Thought you were off today."

"I am," Jane said distractedly. She swallowed, hesitating a second. What she was going to say next was not the easiest thing she'd ever do, but it was part of her master plan for the evening, so Jane Rizzoli would damn well follow through with it. "Just picking up my date for tonight."

Jane was notoriously tight-lipped about her private life around the precinct; not even Frost or Korsak knew if she was seeing someone unless it got serious, which it almost never did. So the fact that Detective Rizzoli would volunteer such information to an officer she only knew in passing came as a surprise to the man.

"Well, then," he said. "Who's the lucky guy?"

"You'll know soon enough, won't you, Quinlen?" Jane replied with her trademark self-satisfied smirk.

"I, um, I guess so," he said.

Jane didn't know the extent of it, but she tended to make a lot of the younger officers very nervous, as was the case with Quinlen. Jane knew that her attitude, what some called her swagger, intimidated the rookies sometimes, but she was not aware that her natural good looks alone were enough to make the men nervous. Combined with that swagger, she rendered many of them incapable of even approaching her to borrow a pen.

"So, what time you on til today?" Jane asked to break the silence, keeping her eyes on the elevator.

"Pulling a double tonight," the officer said. "Working until early morning."

"Ah that's rough," Jane said as she took a step away from the desk. It was exactly 5pm and the elevator doors had just opened to reveal Maura.

Jane just watched as Maura stepped out of the elevator and walked slowly towards the desk. The lobby wasn't exactly packed at this hour, but Maura caught the attention of pretty much everyone that was milling around. She had a way of doing that with an unconscious effortlessness that made her presence all the more magnetic.

It also helped that she managed to look positively edible in the dress, which was cut just above the knee to show off Maura's legs. Then the neckline, though tasteful, was just revealing enough to stimulate the imagination. Not to mention her hair. After a day of autopsy, she'd apparently managed to shower and style her hair so that it fell in loose, shiny curls on her shoulders.

What topped it off though, what really did it for Jane was the fact that Maura had eyes for no one else, that she looked right at Jane and smiled broadly.

"You look great," Jane managed as she gave Maura an up and down that could not possibly have been helped.

"Well, my date chose my outfit very wisely," Maura said with a playful, flirtatious lilt that she seemed to have perfected under Jane's expert guidance. Maura looked Jane up and down, taking note of the tailored black pants and fitted white button up shirt under a tailored blazer, all items Maura had suggested Jane buy."And you look great too. The outfit is very, well, it's very Jane."

"That's the point," Jane said as she took Maura's hand. "This will be a very Jane evening. And I can't take all the credit for the dress. Millie might have saved my ass on that."

Maura smiled and took Jane's hand.

"You're going to have to tell me all about that," Maura said. "But first let's get this date started, shall we?"

Jane smirked and glanced over at the beat cop she'd just been talking to, who looked puzzled by the conversation. At least until Maura took Jane's hand. Jane only confirmed his suspicions by winking and nodding in answer to the question clearly running through his head as she and Maura walked towards the door.

It was not subtle. As a matter of fact it was so obvious that Maura caught on quickly.

"What was that look about?" she asked as the walked down the front stairs.

"Just making sure everyone in BPD knows you're taken," Jane said, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to give Maura a lingering peck on the lips, timing it just as two officers walked. "That kiss was just a precaution. Making extra sure there's no confusion."

"Yes, of course. We wouldn't want that," Maura said.

"And now," Jane said as she linked arms with Maura and walked her towards her car a few spaces away. "Everyone in that building will know how very lucky I am by the beginning of my next shift."

* * *

The place that Jane took Maura to was certainly 'very Jane.' It was in one of the nicer areas of the North End on a street full of family run Italian restaurants. The one that Jane had chosen was a small, well-lit place with some framed paintings of the Italian coast decorating the walls and simple white table clothes with a candle on each table. The simplicity of the décor actually gave a sense warmth to the atmosphere.

The food was excellent as well. The waiter, a man about their age who apparently knew Jane from childhood, had plenty of suggestions for what Maura might like, and even offered advice on what wine paired best with each dish.

The meal itself passed quickly with their characteristic easy conversation flirty banter. And Maura loved that it did. Jane might take that ease for granted, but Maura never did. She had something with Jane that she rarely ever achieved with anyone. She was comfortable, felt so comfortable and protected and understood. And Maura would never  _ever_  take that for granted.

"So," Maura said as she finished off her glass of wine. "You know you're going to have to tell me at some point how you managed to arrange all this, right?"

"Am I?" Jane replied.

"I do have ways of being very persuasive, you know," Maura said, as she slipped her foot out of the low heel she had on and rubbed her foot against Jane's leg and just under the bottom of her pant leg. "And I am not above using them in public."

"Ok, ok, no need to play dirty, doc," Jane said, though not before Maura notice an involuntary, almost imperceptible little shiver. "Wasn't too hard. I know some guys in these parts, so getting a seat in here was no big deal really."

"And the dress?"

Jane shrugged.

"Like I said, I had some help from Millie," Jane said cryptically. "And she got me a pretty steep discount."

"How steep?" Maura persisted. Usually she wouldn't pry into the cost of the gift, but she did not want Jane throwing around that kind of money just because she thought that was what Maura wanted or needed out of a partner.

"A hundred bucks," Jane said. "Some employee discount on top of an employee perk. It wasn't really any trouble."

"That's a 95% discount," Maura said skeptically. "How in the world did you manage that at store that only ever offers discounts of about 15% once a year to frequent customers."

"Sexual favors," Jane said as she smiled in a way that made it absolutely clear that she was joking. "Lots and lots of sexual favors."

"Much as Millie admires your beauty from an aesthetic perspective, I very much doubt she would give such discounts for sexual favors," Maura said. "Particularly when I led her to believe that we were an established couple to get our last discount."

Jane shrugged again.

"Long boring story is long and boring," Jane said as the waiter returned to give Maura the credit card she'd insisted on using to pay, while Jane pulled out her wallet to pay the tip. "But, no lie, Millie worked something out that was only sort of against company policy. She's a cool person, you know."

"She has always treated me well," Maura said. Still, for all the discussion of purchasing the dress, Maura didn't know how it managed to find it's way into her office. "But I presume she didn't help you in getting the dress into my closet?"

"And you would presume right," Jane said. "You remember that charmer Chuck who paid you a visit earlier today?"

"You sent him?" Maura replied. It all made sense. His nervous energy, that habit of continually glancing at the wall behind her, his erratic movements to keep her back to the office. It'd all been part of Jane's plan for getting the dress to Maura's closet.

Jane nodded.

"Promised him a coffee and five bucks to distract you, but he only got four bucks for doing a shitty job," Jane said. "Wanted it to be special, and I figured it'd be more special if it was, you know, a surprise."

"So you spent most of your day off planning a date and getting a dress. All for me?"

"Don't sound so shocked," Jane said as she tossed a few bills on the table and stood. "Not sure who told you otherwise, but you're totally worth it. Now, let's get going. I wanna show you around the old neighborhood before it gets dark."

Maura just smiled as she stood from the table. She knew the change of subject was Jane's way of deflecting attention from herself, of downplaying her thoughtfulness for fear that it might seem too sentimental, an instinct Jane seemed to have developed in her years working on the police force.

"So, you ready to go?" Jane asked as she held out her hand to Maura. She grinned broadly as she added. "'Cuz I can't wait to see the look on Sammy and Giovanni's faces when they sees me with such a sexy woman on my arm."

Maura smiled and laughed softly as she took Jane's hand and they exited the restaurant on to the street.

 


	26. Secrets and Surprises

It took almost an hour to take Maura on the short walk through Jane's neighborhood. It should have only taken about a half and hour tops, but Maura stopped Jane once in awhile and asked the significance of a particular place as they walked by. She claimed to know that the places were important to Jane because the route she chose to take through the streets did not follow what would be the natural flow of pedestrian traffic. And the funny thing was that Maura was right every single time.

Towards the end of their walk, as Jane turned down a side street on the way back to the car, Maura stopped Jane one last time.

"This street has special significance too, doesn't it?" Maura asked as she slowed to a stop and looked up at the name of the street.

"You mean aside from the fact that it's going to get us back to the car quicker?"

Maura raised her eyebrows in that no nonsense 'be serious, Jane' way that always worked quite effectively.

"It will get us back to the car in the same amount of time as if we'd turned around, because we will simply be coming out onto a street that runs parallel to this one," Maura said. "So, yes, aside from that, what is the significance of this street?"

"Well," Jane sighed. "Lots of stuff happened here. It was a pretty popular place to hang out. Especially around the feast days. Outsiders didn't travel here too much, but it was crowded enough to still feel, you know, like you were still a part of it."

"Tell me your favorite memory then," Maura said as she took Jane's hand and resumed walking down the street.

"I, um, I guess I was about seventeen," Jane said, feeling herself blush at bringing up something that she hadn't told anyone about, at least not in the past fifteen years. "I kissed a girl for the first time here."

"Really?"

"Yep. Her name was Leena," Jane looked down at her boots as they scuffed along the pavement. "Wasn't out in the middle of the street or anything though. It was kind of cold and rainy, and she was working this little ice cream booth. I came to keep her company because we were friends, and we tried to stay out of the rain by hiding behind the booth when there weren't any customers. It was kind of a tight fit, so we were really close, and, I mean I guess we might have flirted a little before, and there was this moment where she just kissed me. Then I kissed her back."

Jane looked at Maura as she finished and saw the other woman grinning as she observed Jane's behavior. She squeezed Jane's hand.

"Does it embarrass you to tell that story?" Maura asked gently.

"No, not really. It's just, it's not something I told people even back then. So it's kind of weird to talk about all these years later," Jane said.

Jane felt Maura watch her for another few seconds before speaking again.

"Thank you for telling me," Maura said. Maura was rarely insincere, but there were times when she seemed so intent on expressing something beyond simple sincerity. It was a mix of gratitude, sincerity, and deep respect for the woman that Jane had shown herself to be.

"Sure, I mean it wasn't a secret," Jane said. She swallowed and looked away from Maura as she spoke, hoping her deepening blush wouldn't be too apparent. "Anyway, it was just a fun summer thing we had. She went away to college at the end of the summer, and I started my senior year. She's married with a few kids now I think."

"Well, I appreciate that you were comfortable enough to tell me," Maura said as she squeezed Jane's hand again.

Jane shrugged.

"Of course. I mean you're kind of my comfortable place," Jane said. "I've admitted more stuff to you than I've told anyone else, I think."

Such a monumental confession felt like something Jane should have rehearsed, or at least thought about beforehand. But it just came out, right there, as they walked down the streets she'd walked down as a kid. That's what Maura did to Jane. She put Jane in a place where she wasn't in her usual tense, guarded, defensive resting state. Maura just being there made Jane want to spill her guts, to show every part of herself to the other woman, because Maura was so open, so warm, and Maura deserved that kind of openness from Jane. Maura deserved everything Jane could give her and then some.

"I think you're my comfortable place too," Maura said, a satisfied smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I feel safe with you, Jane."

Jane smiled and looked down at her feet at they walked on towards the car.

Before Jane could think of some clever way to respond, they slowed to a stop by Jane's car. Jane opened the door for Maura, mostly because it seemed like the chivalrous first date kind of thing to do for your date.

Maura tilted her head to the side and squinted her eyes thoughtfully.

"Oh, did you want me to drive back?" Maura asked.

"What'd you mean? I was opening the door for you," Jane said.

"Well, that's not something you generally do for me," Maura said. "And I'm perfectly capable of opening my own car door. So I concluded that you wanted to sit in the passenger seat. By process of elimination, I would be the driver."

"First of all, we're not  _generally_  out on first dates, and second of all, I know you're perfectly capable of a lot of things. I was being polite," Jane said.

Maura laughed.

"I appreciate the gesture, Jane, but you needn't be chivalrous," she said as she got into the passenger seat. "Particularly when we're both women and I have every intention of doing things with you tonight that a lady would blush to even speak of."

Sometimes when Maura talked like that, with her meticulous pronunciation and three syllable words, it took an extra second for Jane to realize that Maura was talking about really hot stuff. Jane actually liked that because the extra work meant a little extra reward.

"Well, then, close the door and drive me to the precinct to get my car," Maura said. "Then we're going back to my place."

Maura and her soft bossiness worked every time. Jane smirked and nodded as she slammed the door, walked around the front of the car, took her place in the driver's seat, and drove back towards the precinct.

* * *

Maura had exactly 12 minutes to do what she had planned. She'd insisted that she and Jane take separate cars back to her place and given Jane directions that she knew would take a little bit longer, though she implied that it was a shortcut. The route usually was a shortcut, so Maura was able to get away with telling Jane that the route usually saves 5 minutes. She left out the part where the city was performing road work that meant it would take significantly longer for Jane to arrive.

The deception was for a good cause, and she hoped Jane would think so as well when she saw that the delay was necessary for Maura to set up Jane's little surprise. She'd called her housekeeper to ask him to leave candles out for Maura to arrange and light when she got home. That task would take about ten of her twelve minutes, because Maura was very particular about the way that the candles were to be arranged. Lighting was crucial to setting the right mood, and Maura wanted to it to be just right.

The remaining two minutes, well, Maura was going to use those to change into the second half of her surprise for Jane…

* * *

By the time Jane pulled up to Maura's house in the Back Bay, her cursing had become very creative. Of all the places in the entire commonwealth, the city choose resurface the one street she needed to drive down to get to Maura's house at the exact time that Jane really, really wanted to get to Maura's as quickly as possible. Instead, she found herself winding through streets that she'd only been down a handful of times years ago on patrol. The traffic was pretty brutal too, even by Boston standards.

Before she got out of the car to approach Maura's door, Jane took a quick look in the rearview mirror to make sure she looked presentable. Not that she could do much if she didn't look good, but she was stupidly nervous to say that she and Maura had known each other for months and had even slept together several times. It just, it felt so different and important and, weirdly enough, so fragile. Like everything was so good that it might shatter, the bubble might burst, if Jane didn't handle things just right.

Jane took a deep breath and stepped out of her car. She slammed the door behind her and walked with a quick decisive stride up the walkway towards Maura's door. Jane had only been to Maura's place a handful of times now that she thought of it. She and Jane spent most of their time together in Jane's apartment, which was a lot closer than Maura's place to BPD. The few times she  _had_  been to Maura's it was merely to pick her up on the way to a crime scene or group outing, so she'd waited just inside the doorway, sometimes even staying in the car so that Maura could just jump in.

This would be the first time Jane had ever been inside Maura's house beyond the front door. Yet another thing for Jane to feel weirdly nervous about.

Jane pressed the doorbell twice, then stuck her hands in the pocket of her light spring jacket as she rocked back on her heels while waiting as patiently as she possibly could for Maura to answer the door.

It was probably only about ten seconds, fifteen at most, but it felt a lot longer than that. Then, when Maura did answer the door, Jane's sense of time stopped existing altogether. Maura was breathless from rushing to answer the door and wearing nothing but an oversized Red Sox jersey.

Jane blinked once then looked Maura up and down…slowly. Maura allowed it, even seemed to enjoy the attention. There was something so damn appealing about a woman in nothing but a button up, then to make it a Sox jersey. On top of all that, you make the woman wearing the jersey Maura standing in a very carefully lit room, and Jane, well, Jane was working really hard to think of words that would make any sense.

"I've recently become aware that you have a keen interest in the Red Sox and their jersey in particular," Maura said. She took a step back so that Jane could enter, which Jane did, shutting the door behind her without taking her eyes off Maura. "Although your childhood obsession with wearing a Red Sox jersey to formal events seemed a little odd, I thought that it might be a nice surprise. A way to make you comfortable in my home."

"Maura, that shirt is awesome, but comfortable is not the word I'd use for how it makes me feel," Jane said as she took a step forward, and resting her hand on Maura's cheek.

"No?" Maura replied, though she did not seem all that confused. Her eyes betrayed a barely concealed smile.

Jane shook her head before pulling Maura in for a kiss, the kind of kiss Jane had been wishing she could give Maura since the moment she got off than elevator back at the precinct. Much as Jane had made with the small PDA moments over the course of the evening, it'd taken some serious self-restraint to keep from anything more than brief kisses and handholding.

Now, in the privacy of Maura's home, with Maura in nothing but a jersey and…god, heels. Maura was wearing nothing but a Red Sox jersey and black 'fuck me' heels. Jane had seen the heels, but she hadn't truly appreciated the visual until that moment, when, instead of being a bit taller than Maura, she was exactly the same height as the other woman.

The image made Jane eager to move this thing along, so she found herself, without ever having made a conscious decision to do so, pulling at the buttons of Maura's jersey, undoing one after the other until the shirt hung open so that Jane's hands could roam over Maura's bare skin at will. What Jane hadn't expected was the fact that Maura wasn't entirely bare. As her fingers brushed from Maura's hip and up her side, Jane felt luxurious, lacy fabric under her finger tips.

Jane was forced to pull away from the kiss to see what exactly it was she was missing. And it was the most breathtaking things she'd ever seen. Maura, breathless and smiling with her whole face in nothing but heels and an unbuttoned jersey with expensive black lingerie underneath. Because it was all so Maura: all pure, sincere enthusiasm and high fashion. Yet, she'd added a touch of Jane with the jersey; she'd taken what Jane brought to her life and hadn't dismissed it as silly or low brow or blue collar. No, instead she took what Jane had to offer and used it in her own very Maura way.

"You're beautiful," Jane murmured as she pulled Maura closer.

"As are you," Maura said against Jane's lips as her fingers started working at Jane's buttons. "Though I'd like to see quite a bit more of you just to be certain."

"That can be arranged pretty easily," Jane said.

"Well, I think it's about time you see my room then, isn't it?" Maura replied as she unbuttoned the last button on Jane's shirt. She took Jane by the hand and gave her the most adorable smirk, a smile that was just a tiny bit too enthusiastic to be a 'come hither' smile, though it was even more attractive on Maura.

"Lead the way, Doctor Isles," Jane said as she squeezed Maura's hand and followed her towards the bedroom.


	27. Certainty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, that whole process took longer than expected. Thanks for sticking around, and hope you enjoyed! Here's some fluff to wrap things up...

 

Maura woke up the next morning later than usual. She could tell without opening her eyes, because the sun slicing through her curtains was higher and brighter than usual. Maura would've guessed it was about 9:30 or 10. Normally, she would have been upset about such a disturbance in her sleep pattern, but these were not normal circumstances. Jane was sleeping next to her. Jane was sleeping next to her naked. It had happened before, waking up in bed with Jane, at around the same time even, but the circumstance had been so different. Superficially, they were the same; in both cases they were naked, and in both cases they'd engaged in a very satisfying sexual encounter the previous evening.

But this was different, so very, very different. To start with, they were in Maura's bed this time. Maura's actual bed, her personal space, not a bed she'd been assigned on a cruise ship. Though she had no qualms about taking a lover, Maura rarely ever took them back to her place, and even more infrequently let them into her bedroom.

Then there was the part where their cruise ship encounters, though immensely satisfying, had been largely about getting and giving sexual pleasure, creating a particular chemical, hormonal reaction in one another.

Last night though, last night had been so much different, so much  _more._  It had undoubtedly been about giving and getting sexual pleasure, but the added closeness, the emotional intimacy coupled with the physical intimacy set the encounter apart from any encounter in Maura's borderline eidetic memory. The sexual release alone from her encounters with Jane had been enough to rank with some of her more satisfying sexual partnerships.

Maura slipped quietly out of bed and moved silently across the room. She put on the silk robe she'd left draped of her lounge chair, tying it loosely in the front. The house did, after all, get a bit chilly in the morning.

Maura moved around the kitchen as quietly as she could manage. She decided to use her coffeemaker in place of the coffee press, because she wanted the time to think. Not that she was incapable of thinking and operating a coffee press. She just liked the quiet stillness of her kitchen in the morning and felt, however irrationally, that the soft hum and gurgle of coffeemaker would be less likely to break that spell.

She put in the proper settings, hit the start button and stood leaning against the counter with her hands resting by her side on the counter top. She closed her eyes and a serene little smile crept across her lips. The scent of gourmet coffee grounds lingered in the air from when she'd prepared the blend, and Maura loved the smell, because it always seemed to have a calming effect on her.

It allowed her to drift back to the previous night, to the way that Jane had taken her time kissing her way from Maura's lips to her jaw, down her neck, breasts, then stomach. By the time Jane had pressed a kiss to the inside of Maura's right thigh, she had been beyond ready, and the fact that Jane would probably draw it out more was the only thing that kept Maura from outright begging for it.

Jane knew though. She knew anyway, in part because she was a detective, but mostly because she knew Maura so well, so Jane had smiled wickedly up at Maura before giving her what Maura refused to actually beg for. Jane drew it out, somehow made the hot, quick spark into a deliciously slow burn. Maura couldn't even find it in herself to be a little annoyed at Jane for that. She always did like a good slow burn. The way the tension builds, almost imperceptibly, with an innuendo here, a few touches there, until, before you know it…

Maura's daydream was cut short but the beeping of the coffee pot. With a smile still on her lips, Maura took the two steps back towards the coffee pot, prepared two cups of coffee and walked back towards the bedroom.

* * *

Jane rolled over onto her side and pulled the blankets up over her shoulder without opening her eyes. This bed was so insanely comfortable, it was no wonder Maura was so consistently perky every morning. A person couldn't help being perky after having slept in this kind of bed.

Or maybe it had nothing to do with the bed itself. Maybe it was the fact that it was Maura's bed, that they'd spent the better part of the evening in it, and that Maura, still naked, had fallen asleep snuggled into Jane's back. Not that Jane would ever tell anyone that last part. As far as anyone was concerned, Jane would always be the big spoon.

Jane smirked again and readjusted her blankets. Then she felt it. That sense that she got just under her skin when someone was watching her, a sixth sense that was well developed from all her years as a cop. Some other sense also told her that these eyes were not a threat. That, and the fact that she smelt some of Maura's best coffee.

"You're staring," Jane said without opening her eyes.

"I wasn't staring," Maura said. "I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Well, some things never change," Jane said, smiling as she opened her eyes.

Maura was sitting in a chair by the window that was angled to face the bed. Jane wondered if Maura could actually comprehend how beautiful she was. How breathtaking she looked sitting there with the sun coming in through the window facing her backyard, her robe loosely tied around her hips so that it fell open just a bit at the top, her hair disheveled in just the right way.

Then there was that smile. That radiant, positively adoring, adorable smile that Maura, and only Maura had. Jane could do nothing but lay there and admire her.

Maura sat in her spot by the window for another moment before standing up, taking with her the coffee mug she'd been resting on her knee. She walked to her side of the bed, and sat with her back resting against the headboard as she placed her coffee mug on her bedside table.

"I made you some coffee too. It's on your side table," Maura said. "I hear you can't live without it."

Jane sat up and picked up the mug of warm, delicious coffee. She held it under her nose and inhaled deeply.

"Mmm, you're so awesome," Jane said after she took a sip of the absolute best coffee she'd ever tried.

"Are you talking to me or the coffee?" Maura asked.

"Both," Jane said. She took another sip before putting the mug back on her side table. Then she leaned over and gave Maura a lingering kiss. "But mostly you."

Jane pulled away and leaned against the headboard in a pose mirroring Maura's, never once taking her eyes off of Maura. Because, after that kiss, Maura smiled. She hadn't really stopped, but this was a special smile. Her special Jane smile, the one that went all the way to her eyes, the one that Jane was pretty sure came directly from Maura's heart even if Maura would say that such a thing is technically impossible.

Maura broke eye contact with Jane to look Jane over, as if she couldn't resist any longer. She licked her lips as her eyes lingered on Jane's chest, which, Jane was just now remembering was still bare.

Jane pulled her knees up against her chest and rested her head on them facing Maura. She wasn't at all shy about that kind of thing with Maura, but she also wouldn't pass up the opportunity to gently tease her.

"Hey there. My eyes are right here," Jane said as she scrunched up her nose and smiled. "Just thought I'd help out, you know, since you seemed to be lookin' so hard for them, and in all the wrong places."

Jane was certain Maura might have missed that kind of joke when they first met, but now, now she had no problem. She laughed and gave Jane a quick kiss.

"Thank goodness," Maura said. "I was afraid I might have to do a thorough, full body inspection."

"Well," Jane said, as she moved to straddle Maura. "Far be it for me to interfere with your work. You always have been so… _meticulous_."

Jane said that last sentence, particular that last word, low and deep right next to Maura's ear, and Maura inhaled sharply, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment. Jane was actually pretty proud of that effect, because she'd never thought of herself as a particularly sexy person. Attractive, maybe, but the seductive kind of sexy just wasn't her kind of thing, not unless she was putting in an effort, as she had with Maura on the cruise. But, being around Maura, the flirtiness seemed to have rubbed off, because that move, that had come so  _easily_.

"Mmm, I try to be," Maura said.

And she opened her eyes again and looked directly, seriously at Jane, putting a hand on either cheek. And their eyes connected for a moment before Maura pulled Jane into a slow, long, deep kiss that Jane wished didn't have to end, because it felt so much like it was saying something. Something important and meaningful.

When Jane opened her eyes after the kiss, Maura was still looking at her with the same soft thoughtful look as before, but in that moment, Maura, like Jane, was breathless. And it was that moment that Jane knew. She strongly suspected it well before that moment, but Jane liked to be sure. And in that moment, in Maura's bed, on glorious spring morning, Jane just knew…

"I love you, Maura," Jane said. Then her face splits into a broad smile because the words came easier that she ever expected, easier than they every had before. "God, do I love you."

Maura smiled so bright that it looked like she was about to start laughing. Then she leant forward almost abruptly and kissed Jane, hard and decisively, like it positively could not have been helped.

"I love you too," Maura said, her arms looped around Jane's neck. "I love you, Jane. You, you've almost always made me feel so much…less lonely than I've ever felt before. I just, I hope I give you half of that feeling."

Jane felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes, in part because the moment was so charged, and so, so long coming, and in part because she never ever wanted Maura to feel lonely, or that she wasn't good enough. Jane didn't like to think that Maura had spent the better part of the first 30 years of her life feeling so isolated.

"That's not even a question, because of course you give me all the good feelings. And you will never feel lonely ever again if I have anything to say about it," Jane said as she ran a hand through Maura's hair. "Even if it means that I follow you everywhere you go. I'll follow you to your boring medical conferences too."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Maura said as she smiled and kissed Jane. Then she made a quick little maneuver that had Jane on her back as Maura leaned over her and continued in that sexy voice Maura had at her disposal. "Although I wouldn't be opposed to finding you waiting in my bed after one of those  _exhausting_  conferences."

"Oh, that can definitely be arranged," Jane said as she looked up at Maura.

Jane didn't make any move to change their position, because it was giving her really pleasant flashbacks to the previous night. That coupled with the view and feeling of Maura's weight against Jane's body was a pretty spectacular way to start her morning too. Jane pulled Maura down into what she could tell would be one of many more kisses.

Maura smiled into the kiss and rested her hands on Jane's cheeks.

"Mmm," Maura hummed, resting her head against Jane's forehead. Then she whispered with a reverence that Jane had never heard in Maura. "I love you so much, Jane Rizzoli."

Then Maura was kissing Jane again, this time slow and deep and so achingly  _meaningful_.

Jane couldn't help smiling, because she was positive about something else now too besides the fact that she was hopelessly in love. Jane knew, without a doubt, that getting those kinds of Maura kisses and hearing Maura say 'I love you' with every bit of conviction she had was never  _ever_  going to get old.

"I love you too, Maura Isles."

**Author's Note:**

> I use to have all kinds of clever end notes when I posted on ff.net. Got rid of those, because, even if they're amusing to re-read they were very much a product of their time and where I was at in life :)


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